It's not only the associate nations that are fighting a battle for existence in the cricketing world. Women cricketers too are waging a long-drawn war to find space and respect. The three-match ODI series between India Women and England Women would be of great importance, starting from Friday in the sweltering heat at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Jamtha.
A women's cricket supporter would look at the series as a ploy to help the teams to get what they miss out on the most: competitive international matches. As a result, despite facing all the challenges with the conditions, both the teams are delighted to be playing a series outside the ICC Championship. India captain Mithali Raj was not bothered about the series clashing with two other big events, since “we have played mostly in an era when there was no coverage for women's cricket”.
And a neutral cricket fan – if there are any – would be looking forward to the series as the first ODI face-off after the last year's nail-biting World Cup final. Obviously that epic final will have little bearing over the series. Not only the conditions at Jamtha will have no resemblance with those at Lord's last July but both the teams have also seen multiple changes since then.
While Raj stressed that her team has left behind the disappointment of not making the T20 tri-series in Mumbai last week, and their England counterparts would also be hoping to forget the nighmarish final clash against Australia.
India: Mithali Raj (capt), Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Dayalan Hemalatha, Veda Krishnamurthy, Devika Vaidya, Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Ekta Bisht, Poonam Yadav, Sushma Verma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad
England: Heather Knight (capt), Tammy Beaumont, Kate Cross, Alice Davidson Richards, Sophie Ecclestone, Natasha Farrant, Katie George, Jenny Gunn, Alex Hartley, Danielle Hazell, Amy Ellen Jones, Anya Shrubsole, Bryony Smith, Natalie Sciver, Fran Wilson, Danielle Wyatt.
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