On June 8, India’s Test and ODI captain Mithali Raj announced her retirement from all forms of international cricket. The 39-year-old was last seen in the 2022 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup that was played in New Zealand early this year. Raj drew curtains on her illustrious international career that spanned across 22 years and 274 days.
The world’s leading run-getter in women’s cricket across all formats had a tremendous impact on the Indian team and her absence not only as a batter but also as a captain will be felt. However, as all good things come to an end, Raj’s era completes a full circle. While she had already retired from playing T20I cricket in March 2019, she continued to lead India in Tests and ODIs. After her retirement from the T20Is, Harmanpreet Kaur took the charge of the team, and now with Raj having bid adieu to all forms of international cricket, Kaur will captain India in all the formats, starting with Sri Lanka white-ball series.
The 33-year-old Kaur will lead India in the three-match T20I series and a three-match ODI series to be played in Dambulla and Kandy respectively. The bilateral series will start with T20Is from June 23. Smriti Mandhana has been named as Kaur’s deputy for the white-ball series.
India’s squad for T20I series: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia (wk), S Meghna, Deepti Sharma, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Simran Bahadur, Richa Ghosh (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh, Jemimah Rodrigues, Radha Yadav
India’s squad for ODI series: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia (wk), S Meghna, Deepti Sharma, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Simran Bahadur, Richa Ghosh (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Harleen Deol
India Women’s tour of Sri Lanka Schedule
1st T20I: 23rd June
2nd T20I: 25th June
3rd T20I: 27th June1st ODI: 1st July
2nd ODI: 4th July
3rd ODI: 7th July#SLvIND #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/rsLzHAlYxr— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) June 8, 2022
So far, Kaur has captained India in five ODIs, winning four and losing one and in 66 T20Is, winning 39 and losing 24 (three matches did not produce results). She has been the captain for the most number of matches for India in women’s T20Is. Her highest point in captaincy came in 2020 when she led India to the finals of ICC Women’s World T20 in Australia. India played the World T20 finals against Australia in front of a record crowd of 86174 at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Having served as Raj’s deputy in the recent past in Tests and ODIs, it will be interesting to see how Harmanpreet Kaur takes the onus of the team in all formats, especially when she will not have the services of the most prolific batter in women’s cricket, Mithali Raj.
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I am a former cricketer having represented Mumbai University at All India University level. I was a part of MCA probables for the U-19 and U-23 age group. I have been an avid cricket writer for the last five years. Currently I am pursuing my Ph.D from IIT Bombay.