IND-W vs SA-W preview: India, South Africa eye building momentum, fitness of Jemimah, Pooja in focus

India, which had lost the ODI and T20I series against Australia, came roaring back, blanking Bangladesh 5-0 in a recent away T20I series, and the host would like to build on it further.

Amol Muzumdar, India women’s cricekt team head coach, with captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana during a training session. | Photo Credit: MURALI KUMAR K / The Hindu

Against the backdrop of a T20 World Cup, India will look to stabilise its ODI form while South Africa will hunt for important qualification points on the road to next year’s 50-over World Cup when the two sides meet at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Sunday.

India’s last six ODIs — against Australia at home and Bangladesh away — have fetched a solitary win, four losses and a tie. Though they were in the distant past — Bangladesh last July and Australia December-January — Harmanpreet Kaur & Co. would want to set the record straight.

India will be bolstered by the return to fitness of Jemimah Rodrigues, who missed the recent victorious T20I series away to Bangladesh because of back trouble. Harmanpreet also confirmed on Saturday that medium pacer Pooja Vastrakar, who was recovering from an unspecified injury, was also fit.

South Africa comes into the contest having lost the T20I series against Sri Lanka (1-2) and then drawn the ODIs (1-1). It will also begin a new life without Hilton Moreeng, who was the head coach for a decade and a little more.

The Proteas will welcome back opener Tazmin Brits from a knee-ligament tear, and with just six matches remaining in its qualification bid for the 2025 ODI World Cup in India, it will be a shot in the arm.

In the last match Brits played, versus Sri Lanka, she made 116, and will be keen to rejoin forces with skipper and fellow opener Laura Wolvaardt, who has scores of 184 n.o., 110 n.o. and 41 leading in.

The Garden City, with its flat pitches and small boundaries, has traditionally favoured such heavy-hitting, though in the last year, there has been the odd curveball.

Nature may play a trick or two. The monsoon took a break on match-eve, and the hope is for the rain to stay away on Sunday too so that the city’s fans, who last witnessed a women’s ODI here in 2015, can throng the venue like they did at the Women’s Premier League.

Teams:

India:

Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (WK), Uma Chetri (WK), Dayalan Hemlatha, Radha Yadav, Asha Sobhana, Shreyanka Patil, Saika Ishaque, Pooja Vastrakar, Renuka Singh Thakur, Arundhati Reddy, Priya Punia.

South Africa:

Laura Wolvaardt (c), Anneke Bosch, Tazmin Brits, Nadine de Klerk, Annerie Dercksen, Mieke de Ridder, Sinalo Jafta, Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klaas, Suné Luus, Eliz-Mari Marz, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Tumi Sekhukune, Nondumiso Shangase, Delmi Tucker.