Picture Credit: Twitter/@BCCIWomen
In a big news concerning India Women's tour of Australia, vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur has been ruled out of the ODI series opener with a thumb injury. The same was confirmed by head coach Ramesh Powar. The teams are set to play a 3-match ODI series, the first of which is scheduled on Tuesday at the Harrup Park in the city of Mackay, Queensland.
Kaur sustained the injury a few days ago and is expected to recover in time for the second ODI, scheduled to be played on Thursday this week. India Women's last international assignment was the final T20I against England Women during their tour to that country which was played in July.
Post the first two ODIs, the final match of the series is scheduled on Sunday.
India to play historic day-night Test at WACA, Perth
Kaur has also been named in the squad for the one-off Test against Australia starting September 30. This will be the first-ever day-night women's Test that the Indian women's team will play and will be staged at the WACA, Perth. Post the ODIs and the one-off Test, the Indian eves are also set to participate in a 3-match T20I series against the same opposition.
Kaur's fitness will be closely monitored in the coming days as she is the skipper of the T20I squad with the first match of the shortest-format series scheduled on October 7. They will be followed by matches on October 9 and 10.
In India's last assignment against England, the team had managed to draw the one-off Test but had succumbed to defeats in both the ODI and T20I series. On both occasions, the women's team won just one match but lost the two other two to lose the series 1-2. They will be hoping for a change of result Down Under.
India Women's squad for one-off Test & ODI series: Mithali Raj (Captain), Harmanpreet Kaur (vice-captain), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Punam Raut, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Yastika Bhatia, Taniya Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Shikha Pandey, Jhulan Goswami, Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Richa Ghosh, Ekta Bisht.
India Women's T20I squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Yastika Bhatia, Shikha Pandey, Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Richa Ghosh (wicket-keeper), Harleen Deol, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Renuka Singh Thakur.