India Women vs Bangladesh Women: Surprise picks in focus as Harmanpreet Kaur and Co return to action

After four months of absence from the international scene, India are set to return to action with the T20I series against Bangladesh which starts on 9 June at Mirpur. The series would be India’s first international assignment since the T20 World Cup 2023 semi-final exit in February, and also a curtain-raiser of the team-building exercise for the 2024 T20 World Cup which is scheduled to take place in Bangladesh.

From that perspective, India’s squad has witnessed quite a lot of omissions and surprising selections.

Also, the women’s team continues to operate without a regular head coach. Ramesh Powar was removed from the post in December 2022 and Hrishikesh Kanitkar played the role of the batting coach and main coach in the meantime.

It has now been reported that Nooshin Al Khader would be the interim head coach on the Bangladesh tour for India. News agency PTI had also reported earlier that domestic stalwart Amol Muzumdar would be announced as the next women’s team head coach but that announcement hasn’t come yet.

Coming to the squad.

Wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh who provided strength to India’s lower order in the T20 World Cup is missing and that spot should go to Yastika Bhatia. Yastika played that role for Mumbai Indians in the WPL 2023 and scored 214 runs at a strike rate of 112.04 in 10 matches.

Yastika has usually batted for India in the top three but there’s a possibility India would try to put her in the lower-order to see if she can be relied upon as a finisher.

Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur are expected to take the top four spots in batting. Deepti Sharma along with Yastika would be expected to take control of the finishing role.

Assam’s Uma Chetry is the second wicket-keeper in the squad. In the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy 2022-23, Chetry scored 120 runs at a strike rate of 88.88.

All eyes would also be on India’s bowling combination.

Pacers Shikha Pandey and Renuka Singh are out of the squad and BCCI has not given any explanation yet.

Also not in the squad are spinners Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Radha Yadav.

Pacer Monica Patel is back with the team for the first time since 2021 and would be expected to lead from the front. Meghna Singh would also want to make the most of the opportunity.

Uncapped left-arm pacers Anusha Bareddy and Rashi Kanojiya have their work cut out.

LIVE streaming: The first India Women vs Bangladesh Women T20I would be played at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. The match will start at 1.30 PM IST and would be LIVE streamed on the FanCode app and website. The match would not have any live TV broadcast.

Squads:

India: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Harleen Deol, Devika Vaidya, Uma Chetry (wk), Amanjot Kaur, S. Meghana, Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Anjali Sarvani, Monica Patel, Rashi Kanojiya, Anusha Bareddy, Minnu Mani

Bangladesh: Nigar Sultana (captain, wk), Nahida Akter, Dilara Akter, Shathi Rani, Shamima Sultana, Sobhana Mostary, Murshida Khatun, Shorna Akter, Ritu Moni, Disha Biswas, Marufa Akter, Sanjida Akter Meghla, Rabeya Khan, Sultana Khatun, Salma Khatun, Fahima Khatun