Since the beginning of the year, Women’s T20 World Cup have been the hot topic. And after the shocking retirement of bowling legend Jhulan Goswami from T20 cricket everyone was waiting to know who all will be a part of the Indian squad. Now that the team have been announced, let’s see who all made their way into the squad.
India Women’s squad – Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Mithali Raj, Jemimah Rodrigues, Veda Krishnamurthy, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav, Anuja Patil, Ekta Bisht, D Hemalata, Mansi Joshi, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy.
Venue and Date-
Starting from 9th November, this tournament will be held in West Indies. India forms the part of Group B along with Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and Ireland.
Well this squad is a perfect combination of seniors and juniors who carry their experience and talent with them. Let’s have a look at the ones who have just made an entry in the team.
Radha Yadav
From hoping to play for the country someday to getting selected for the World Cup, Radha Yadav has made us all proud. A vegetable vendor’s daughter who didn’t even know Women Cricket existed made her way in the team first when she came as a replacement for injured Rajeshwari Gayakwad and since then her only dream was to become a regular player for India. Before paving her way in the team against South Africa she has played 4 first class, 13 List A and 16 Women’s T20 matches. In the domestic circuit she plays for Mumbai, Baroda and West Zone. This leg arm spinner is the first player from Gujarat to make an T20 international debut. Her consistency has given her this opportunity and she’s definitely a player to look out for.
Also Read our Exclusive Interview with Radha Yadav
Dayalan Hemalata
D Hemalata an all rounder from Tamil Nadu made her entry in National side earlier this year but little did she know that she’ll become the part of World Cup Squad. She got her ODI cap during India’s series against England but didn’t get a chance to play. She proved herself in the recent series against Sri Lanka and hence made her way in the World Cup squad. Being an all rounder always gives you an edge over other players and in a format like T20 don’t we need someone who qualifies to be Miss 360!
Arundhati Reddy
Right arm medium fast bowler who a few days back made her debut in the series against Sri Lanka has already impressed the selectors through her performance and made her way in the World Cup squad. 20 year old Reddy has played for South Central Railways and shared the dressing room with Mithali Raj, which she believes has motivated her to improve her game by each passing day. Although Reddy or for that matter no player can replace Jhulan Goswami but we hope her presence in the field might allow us to forget Goswami for a while and give this blooming flower a chance.
Also Read : How can Team India win ICC T20 Women’s World Cup 2018?
Pooja Vastrakar
Pooja Vastrakar who made her ODI and T20 debut both against South Africa in February this year has already made her way in World Cup squad. She plays for Madhya Pradesh and Central Zone. She has also played 4 first class, 21 List A cricket and 17 Women’s T20 matches. This right arm medium bowling all-rounder is sweetly called as Babloo by her teammates and Babulal by her coach. She has the perfect swing variations, big shot hitting ability and is a fielder that every captain wants on her side. She’s an perfect example of ‘never let your hope die’ after losing her mom at the age of 10 and undergoing a number of injuries she made a comeback, so strong that the selectors had no option but to include her in the World Cup squad.
Taniya Bhatia
Taniya Bhatia made her international T20 debut against South Africa in February this year and ODI debut against Sri Lanka a few days back and now has made her way into the squad. Coming from Chandigarh, Bhatia was trained by Yuvraj Singh’s father Yograj Singh, a former Indian cricketer. She’s the first woman cricketer from Chandigarh to make her way in the national team. And was also the youngest player to play for senior Punjab team in the inter-state domestic tournament in 2011. She has also captained the U-19 North Zone side in the inter-zonal cricket tournament in Guwahati in the year 2015 where she had scored 227 runs and was also behind 10 dismissals. She is undoubtedly India’s best bet at the World Cup.
Jemimah Rodrigues
This sensational player made her debut in international cricket arena this year in both ODI and T20 format, former against Australia and latter against South Africa. The 17 year old all-rounder is a part of Mumbai women’s cricket team and is also a part of Maharashtra Hockey team. She’s the second cricketer after Smriti Mandhana to score a double century in a 50 over match, which came against Saurashtra in 2017. In June this year she won Jagmohan Dalmiya Award For Best Domestic Junior Women’s Cricketer given by BCCI. She’s an all-rounder who’s in excellent form which surely makes her a player to look out for in this World Cup.
Also Read : The rise and rise of Jemimah Rodrigues
Along with these talented young players we have the likes of Mithali, Harmanpreet and Veda who’ll give the much needed stability and we have Smriti who is in great form and will be a great threat to all the bowlers. Then we have Deepti Sharma a world class batting all-rounder. Also, the bowling unit has become more strong with the comeback of Mansi Joshi. Poonam Yadav and Anuja Patil provide the perfect option of legbreak and offbreak to the team and Ekta Bisht offers the Left arm orthodox spin option to the team.
Isn’t this team, India’s best bet on winning World Cup this year.
