What’s the Mystery behind constant Chop and Change in Indian Women’s Cricket Squad?

Chopping and changing has been the trend with respect to the Indian women’s cricket team over the last one year. In 2021, India played three bilateral series, against South Africa, England and Australia. Every time the squad was announced there were many surprises thrown at the fans. It was as if different series demanded a different squad.

India’s ODI squads in 2021
South Africa series	England series	Australia series	India’s World Cup 2022 squad
Mithali Raj	Mithali Raj	Mithali Raj	Mithali Raj
Smriti Mandhana	Smriti Mandhana	Smriti Mandhana	Smriti Mandhana
Jemimah Rodrigues	Jemimah Rodrigues	Jemimah Rodrigues	Yastika Bhatia
Punam Raut	Punam Raut	Punam Raut	Shafali Verma
Priya Punia	Priya Punia	Yastika Bhatia	Harmanpreet Kaur
Yastika Bhatia	Shafali Verma	Shafali Verma	Deepti Sharma
Dayalan Hemalatha	Harmanpreet Kaur	Harmanpreet Kaur	Renuka Singh Thakur
Harmanpreet Kaur	Deepti Sharma	Deepti Sharma	Pooja Vastrakar
Deepti Sharma	Shikha Pandey	Shikha Pandey	Taniya Bhatia
Sushma Verma	Pooja Vastrakar	Pooja Vastrakar	Richa Ghosh
Sweta Verma	Taniya Bhatia	Taniya Bhatia	Sneh Rana
Radha Yadav	Indrani Roy	Richa Ghosh	Jhulan Goswami
Rajeshwari Gayakwad	Sneh Rana	Sneh Rana	Meghna Singh
Jhulan Goswami	Jhulan Goswami	Jhulan Goswami	Poonam Yadav
Mansi Joshi	Arundhati Reddy	Meghna Singh	Rajeshwari Gayakwad
Poonam Yadav	Poonam Yadav	Poonam Yadav
Challuru Prathyusha	Ekta Bisht	Ekta Bisht
Monica Patel	Radha Yadav	Rajeshwari Gayakwad

Changes for England series

Players IN: Shafali Verma, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Taniya Bhatia, Indrani Roy, Ekta Bisht, Arundhati Reddy, Sneh Rana

Players OUT: Yastika Bhatia, Dayalan Hemalatha, Sushma Verma, Sweta Verma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Mansi Joshi, Challuru Prathyusha, Monical Patel

Changes for Australia series

Players IN: Yastika Bhatia, Richa Ghosh, Meghna Singh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad

Players OUT: Priya Punia, Indrani Roy, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav

Changes for World Cup 2022

Players IN: Renuka Singh Thakur

Players OUT: Jemimah Rodrigues, Punam Raut, Shikha Pandey, Ekta Bisht

From these series, the most striking changes have been made in the wicket-keeper positions. Sushma Verma and Sweta Verma were a part of the South Africa series, however, they missed out on the future tournaments against England and Australia. Taniya Bhatia and Indrani Roy replaced the Verma duo for the England series, however, Roy missed out for the Australia series. Roy and Sweta Verma did not play even a single match in their respective tours. Come the Australia series, Roy was replaced by Richa Ghosh, who after some impressive performances has cemented her place in the Indian squad. It will not be a surprise if India plays Ghosh ahead of Bhatia in the World Cup.

Apart from the wicket-keepers, batters like Priya Punia, Jemimah Rodrigues, and Punam Raut have not been considered for the World Cup. Priya Punia did reasonably well in the South Africa series scoring 50 runs in two ODI innings. Punam Raut, who scored a brilliant 86 in the finals of the 2017 World Cup, had some good performances in South Africa and England series. Though she was part of the Australia series, she was not given the opportunity. Similarly, Jemimah Rodrigues, who has had a topsy turvy ODI career, showed some form during the Hundred and WBBL. But her single-digit scores in her last five ODIs did not help her cause.

Finally coming to the bowlers, it was quite shocking to see Shikha Pandey miss the bus. Pandey last played in the England series and could not make it to the playing XI for the Australia series. Youngsters like Meghna Singh, who was impressive in the Australia series and Renuka Singh Thakur, who had a good domestic season have been given the nod for the World Cup. Ekta Bisht has also missed out as India have decided to go with just one frontline left-arm spinner in Rajeshwari Gayakwad.

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