India, fresh from a triumphant 6-match white-ball home series against the West Indies—clinching the T20Is 2-1 and sweeping the ODIs 3-0—are now gearing up to face Ireland. Just days ahead of the series, the BCCI’s national women’s selectors have announced a 15-player squad, resting the regular captain and making a couple of changes to the ODI lineup from the previous series.
Regular skipper Harmanpreet Kaur has been rested for the 3-match ODI series against Ireland, with Smriti Mandhana stepping in as captain. Notably, Renuka Singh Thakur, India’s leading wicket-taker in the ODI series against the West Indies, has also been rested. Raghvi Bist, who recently made her T20I debut during Kaur’s absence, finds a well-deserved spot in the ODI squad, while the in-form Sayali Satghare is also in line for a potential ODI debut.
India’s squad for ODI series against Ireland:
Smriti Mandhana (C), Deepti Sharma (VC), Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Jemimah Rodrigues, Uma Chetry (wk), Richa Ghosh (wk), Tejal Hasabnis, Raghvi Bist, Minnu Mani, Priya Mishra, Tanuja Kanwer, Titas Sadhu, Saima Thakor, Sayali Satghare
The Women in Blue will kickstart the ODI World Cup year 2025 by hosting Ireland led by skipper Gaby Lewis for a three-match bilateral ODI series from 10th January 2025 (Friday) to 15th January 2025 (Wednesday). It will also mark the first instance when Ireland tours India for an international bilateral series and it will also be the maiden three-match bilateral series in the ODI format between these two sides. The previous two occasions when these two sides met each other in the format, were two-match series in Ireland in July 2002 and July 2006.
The 24-year-old all-rounder Sayali Satghare has made her way back into the squad, having received her maiden call-up in the home ODI series against New Zealand just after the conclusion of the 9th edition of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. Though she then missed out on a spot in the recently concluded ODIs against Australia and West Indies, she excelled in the domestic games. She was the leading wicket-taker for Mumbai in the 2024-25 Senior Women’s One Day Trophy with 17 wickets at an average of 15.76 and an economy of 3.48 in 10 innings with the ball. Her tally of wickets included one four-wicket haul in the tournament.
In some welcome news, Pratika Rawal and Harleen Deol have retained their places in the squad courtesy of their impressive performances in the ODI series against the West Indies. Deol was the leading run-scorer of the series with 160 runs at an impressive average of 53.33 in three innings, including her maiden century (115 off 103 balls) in the 2nd ODI of the series in Vadodara.
The 24-year-old opening batter Pratika Rawal was impressive with the bat in her debut series, ending as the 3rd-highest run-scorer of the series with 134 runs at an impressive average of 44.66 in three innings, including her maiden half-century (76 off 86 balls) in the 2nd ODI of the series. She also chipped in with her handy off-spin bowling returning with impressive match figures of 5-0-37-2 in her spell in the same game.
Notably, 20-year-old all-rounder Raghvi Bist earns her maiden ODI call-up in the squad for the series against Ireland. She recently made her international debut for India on 17th December 2024 in the 2nd T20I of the series against the West Indies. She scored 36 runs in a couple of innings at a decent strike rate of 120 so far in the format. She is also part of the India C squad in the ongoing Senior Women’s One-Day Challenger Trophy. Most recently, she scored 172 runs at a decent average of 28.67 in 6 innings, including a couple of half-centuries representing Uttarakhand in the Senior Women’s One-Day Trophy.
India’s 3-match ODI series against Ireland will be hosted at Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot. The matches are scheduled for January 10th, 12th, and 15th, 2025, with all games starting at 11:00 AM Indian Standard Time (IST).
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