Women’s Wold Cup: Jemimah, Shikha miss out

Jemimah Rodrigues and Shikha Pandey were the notable omissions in the Indian squad announced on Thursday for the Women’s ODI World Cup to be held in New Zealand from March 4 to April 3. Batter Jemimah and seaming all-rounder Shikha had last played in an ODI last July on India’s tour of England.

Jemimah had forced her way back into India’s T20 eleven after her splendid run in the inaugural Hundred in England, and had done fairly well on her return in the recent series in Australia, but that didn’t prove enough to win the flight ticket for New Zealand. The selectors have rewarded the young seam-bowling trio of Pooja Vastrakar, Renuka Singh and Meghna Singh for their fine show Down Under.

Jhulan Goswami will spearhead the seam attack at the World Cup under the captaincy of Mithali Raj. Two players that have not yet made their ODI debut, batter Sabbhineni Meghana from Andhra and seaming all-rounder Simran Bahadur from Delhi, have been named as stand-bys, along with veteran left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht. The three players are also included in India’s team for the one-off T201 match against New Zealand; Harmanpreet Kaur will lead that team.

The T20I will be played at Napier on February 9. It will be followed by a five-match ODI series, from February 11 to 24.

The squad for the World Cup and New Zealand ODI series: Mithali Raj (Capt.), Harmanpreet Kaur (Vice-capt.), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Sneh Rana, Jhulan Goswami, Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Poonam Yadav. Stand-bys: Ekta Bisht, Sabbhineni Meghana and Simran Bahadur.

The squad for the T-20I: Harmanpreet Kaur (Capt.), Smriti Mandhana (Vice-capt.), Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatiya, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Sneh Rana, Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Rajeshwari Gaykwad, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Sabbhineni Meghana and Simran Bahadur.

India’s matches at the World Cup: v Pakistan, Tauranga, March 6; v New Zealand, Hamilton, March 10; v West Indies, Hamilton, March 12; v England, Tauranga, March 16; v Australia, Auckland, March 19; v Bangladesh, Hamilton, March 22; v South Africa, Christchurch, March 27.

EOM