The first ODI against South Africa will be the first international match for India Women in 364 days.
In 2020, the ICC planned the Women’s T20 World Cup final to be scheduled on 8 March, International Women’s Day. In what turned out to be the most-attended women’s cricket match in history, India Women lost to hosts Australia Women at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. At that point, it seemed women’s cricket got the long-awaited, much-needed boost.
Unfortunately, at the same time, the COVID-19 cases had been mounting up around the world. One country after another went into lockdown. Like every other sport, cricket was discontinued for months as the world came to a standstill. Once cricket returned, India Men featured in a full-length IPL. This was followed by a tour of Australia; as of now, they are playing England at home.
Over the same time, India Women have not had a shot at international cricket. Their exposure to serious professional cricket has been restricted to a four-match Women’s T20 Challenge that clashed with the Women’s Big Bash League and hence missed several major stars. Among the Indians, Radha Yadhav, Smriti Mandhana, and Harmanpreet Kaur performed pretty well during the three matches played in the Women’s IPL.
The first ODI against South Africa will be the first international match for India Women in 364 days. The squads raised a few questions as Shikha Pandey, Ekta Bisht, and Taniya Bhatia were all left out. Even the swashbuckling Shafali Verma has been considered only for the T20Is. However, they have the experienced duo of Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami in the ODI squad. They, along with Kaur, Mandhana, and the spin quartet of Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, and Deepti Sharma, will be their biggest strength.
South Africa had lost in the semi-final of last year’s Women’s World T20 against Australia by just five runs. They returned to international cricket with wins against Pakistan Women – by 3-0 and 2-1 in ODIs and T20Is respectively.
They will miss their regular captain Dane van Niekerk and Chloe Tryon as Sune Luus will continue to lead. Masabata Klaas, who played against Pakistan, will also not be around, but the other key players will be available. With India currently ranked second and South Africa ranked fourth in the ICC Women’s ODI ranking, this series is expected to be a close fought encounter, and both teams will look to gain the early advantage with a win in the first match.
The 5-match series against India will be played at the Ekana Cricket Stadium at Lucknow. Due to the pandemic, only 10 per cent tickets of total capacity have been sold.
Key players
Harmanpreet Kaur: India’s T20 captain and ODI vice-captain, Kaur will be playing her 100th ODI in the first match. She will be the fifth Indian woman after Raj and Goswami to reach this landmark. She has scored three ODI hundreds till date and will like to celebrate this milestone with a fourth.
Shabnim Ismail: Ismail played her 100th ODI against Pakistan, thereby just beating Kaur to the landmark. She was also the highest wicket-taker in both the T20Is and ODIs in the Pakistan series, picking up seven wickets each time. With 146 ODI wickets, she is also the highest wicket-taker for South Africa Women.
Predicted XIs
India Women: Smriti Mandhana, Punam Raut, Mithali Raj (c), Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Sushma Verma (wk), Jhulan Goswami, Radha Yadav, Mansi Joshi, Poonam Yadav.
South Africa Women: Lizelle Lee, Laura Wolvaardt, Sune Luus (c), Lara Goodall, Tazmin Brits, Anne Bosch, Trisha Chetty (wk), Shabnim Ismail, Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Nonkululeko Mlaba.