IPL 2023
The BCCI has announced the Indian women’s cricket team for the upcoming Commonwealth Games to be held in Birmingham on Monday.
Harmanpreet Kaur will lead the 15-member squad during T20 cricket’s debut at the quadrennial event. The team will also see the return of Sneh Rana, Harleen Deol and wicketkeeper Taniya Bhatiya.
The most notable player to make a comeback to the squad is all-rounder Sneh Rana, who missed the Sri Lanka series owing to an injury which kept her at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for rehabilitation.
The team will have Yastika Bhatia as the first-choice stumper.
Taniya’s selection was surprising as the Neetu David-led selection committee has brought back the keeper-batter, who has totalled 166 runs in 22 innings at an average of 9.72 with a strike rate of 94.
The casualty was Bengal’s Richa Ghosh, who has scored 191 runs in 14 games at a strike rate of 112 plus but is now on the reserves list as she has fallen off the radar in recent times.
Simran Bahadur and season leg-spinner Poonam Yadav were also named as stand-by players for the tournament.
India is named in Group A alongside Australia, Barbados and Pakistan. It will take on Australia in the tournament opener on July 29. Group B comprises host England, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka.
The top two teams from the respective pools will progress to the semi-finals.
This will be the first appearance for women’s cricket at CWG with Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham hosting all matches. Cricket, however, has been played before at the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Games where South Africa won gold in the men’s 50-over competition.
With inputs from PTI
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