With the country still celebrating one T20 World Cup triumph, the attention starts to turn towards another in 2024. With not long left for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, India’s squad is starting to take shape as a largely expected group of 15 players, to be led by Harmanpreet Kaur, were picked for the upcoming Women’s Asia Cup in Sri Lanka. The tournament will be played in Sri Lanka from July 19 and is the last preparatory international assignment as things stand before the World Cup in September.
After three ODIs and a Test against South Africa, Harmanpreet’s side are in T20I mode now, trailing 0-1 against South Africa in Chennai. India had lost the first match of the three-match series by 12 runs, and will face the visitors in the second game on Sunday.
Opener Smriti Mandhana, who has been in sensational form across all formats during against South Africa, continues as the vice-captain. The left-hander has scored three centuries in her last five international outings and looked in good touch in the opening T20I against South Africa too, and will be the key to India’s hopes as they step up their World Cup preparations, in pursuit of the elusive senior ICC trophy.
A look at the @ImHarmanpreet-led squad for #WomensAsiaCup2024 in Sri Lanka 👌👌#TeamIndia | #ACC pic.twitter.com/g77PSc45XA
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) July 6, 2024
Out of the current 17-member squad named to face South Africa, young pacer Shabnam Shakil and allrounder Amanjot Kaur have been left out. Besides the 15 players in the main squad, Shweta Sehrawat, Saika Ishaque, Tanuja Kanwer and Meghna Singh have been included as travelling reserves. There is no clarity yet on Yastika Bhatia and Titas Sadhu’s availability, with the two featuring in Bangladesh recently but not part of the South Africa series.
India have been clubbed in Group A of the Asia Cup along with arch-rival Pakistan (July 19), UAE (July 21) and Nepal (July 23).
All the matches will be played at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium. India are the defending champions, and have won the competition a record seven times.
Should India reach the semifinal, and beyond, they are likely to run into hosts Sri Lanka in what will be a big test before the World Cup. Chamari Athapaththu’s side are in good form, and by winning the recent World Cup qualifiers they joined Australia, India, New Zealand and Pakistan in Group A of the T20 World Cup. Scotland entered Group B alongside hosts Bangladesh, England, South Africa and the West Indies as Qualifier 2.
India’s Asia Cup Squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (WK), Uma Chetry (WK), Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh Thakur, Dayalan Hemalatha, Asha Sobhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, Sajana Sajeevan
Traveling reserves: Shweta Sehrawat, Saika Ishaque, Tanuja Kanwer, Meghna Singh
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