Picture Credit: BCCI Women
Indian Test and ODI skipper Mithali Raj has finally broken silence on the exclusion of experienced wicketkeeper Sushma Verma from the squad for England Tour during a virtual press conference on Tuesday. The fans were surprised to see Taniya Bhatia's name instead as she had been dropped in the previous one-day series against South Africa. However, Verma had a very poor outing as she scored only 15 runs in the series.
We want to see how Taniya performs in English conditions: Mithali
Taniya Bhatia is one of India's most talented wicketkeepers, having played 15 ODIs and 50 T20Is for the national side. Reflecting on her selection ahead of Verma, Mithali said, "Sushma got an opportunity in the last series (against SA). She got to play all the 5 ODIs and we wanted to get in Taniya again to see how good she can be. Taniya did have a good domestic season and we would want to see her in the English conditions. As Sushma already played the 2017 World Cup in UK, so we wanted to see how Taniya fares in the UK."
Having travelled to West Indies and Australia for T20 World Cups, it is going to be another challenging tour for young Taniya Bhatia. With Sushma Verma still knocking the doors and wicketkeeper Indrani Roy also in the side, Bhatia will need to grab this opportunity with both hands and justify her selection with performances on the field.
Shafali Verma could be like Prithvi Shaw: Ramesh Powar
Indian Women's Team head coach Ramesh Powar also talked about the young rising star - Shafali Verma. While calling her as "special talent", the 43-year-old added that they did something great with Prithvi Shaw when he played the Vijay Hazare Trophy (for Mumbai) and things could pan out the same way for Shafali Verma if she practices well. "You can wait and watch, you might see a different Shafali Verma after a month and a half," said Powar on Tuesday.