15-year-old Shafali Verma gets her maiden T20 call for the first three matches of the five-match series against South Africa. The series will start from September 24 in Surat.
Verma turned out to be one of the brightest players in the Women’s T20 challenge in May. Her solid domestic stint in T20 especially during 2018-19 senior women’s intern-state T20 tournament scoring 186 runs in six innings at a strike rate of 187.87, including a tournament-high 128 off 56 balls against Nagaland made her way easier to the senior team.
Pooja Vastrakar is another teenager who will be seen playing for India in this series. After her debut in 2018, she has been recalled to the team again for the first three T20 matches of the series. . The seam-bowling allrounder has scored 85 runs at a strike rate of 137 and has picked 12 wickets in a career of 11 T20Is. The duo will bring youth to the team replacing the likes of Ekta Bisht, Komal Zanzad and Mithali Raj, who retired from T20Is on Tuesday. Harmanpreet Kaur will lead the T20 team whereas Raj will continue to lead the ODI team.
For the three-match ODI series starting from October 9 Mona Meshram has been left out of the squad as Tamil Nadu’s Hemalatha replaces her. Harmanpreet Kaur returns for the 50-over format as vice-captain. Veda Krishnamurthy although has retained her spot for the T20Is, has missed out from the ODI ye again. Taniya Bhatia is the wicketkeeper in both squads.
India squad for first three T20Is: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia (wicketkeeper), Poonam Yadav, Shikha Pandey, Arundhati Reddy, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Veda Krishnamurthy, Harleen Deol, Anuja Patil, Shafali Verma, Mansi Joshi
India squad for ODIs: Mithali Raj (captain), Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (vice-captain), Punam Raut, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia (wicketkeeper), Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Mansi Joshi, Ekta Bisht, Poonam Yadav, D Hemalatha, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Priya Punia