Harleen Deol returns as BCCI announces India Women squad for Australia T20Is

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), on Friday, announced the 15-member Women’s squad for the upcoming home T20I series against Australia, starting December 09 in Mumbai.

Allrounders Pooja Vastrakar and Sneh Rana will not be available for the five-match T20I series. According to the BCCI release, Vastrakar will miss due to an unspecified injury. However, no reason was mentioned for Rana’s absence.

Harleen Deol and Yastika Bhatia have made their comeback to the T20I setup after getting dropped for the series in England and the Asia Cup. Notably, both Harleen and Yastika have been rewarded for their respective performances in the recently-concluded Women’s T20 Challenger Trophy. Harleen smashed a couple of half-centuries, while Yastika hit an unbeaten 99 before scoring an unbeaten 80 to steer her side to victory in the final.

Further, Railways left-arm seamer Anjali Sarvani has received her maiden call-up. She was the leading wicket-taker in the Inter-State Women’s T20s, with 17 wickets at an average of 5.70 and an economy rate of 3.34. Anjali was also the joint-leading wicket-taker in the Inter-Zonal T20s, with 10 wickets to her name.

The pace attack will be spearheaded by Renuka Thakur, who will be supported by the likes of Meghna Singh and Sarvani. Despite a noteworthy performance in the Inter-State T20s, picking 11 scalps at an average of 10.90 and an economy rate of 4.28, veteran Shikha Pandey hasn’t been considered in the T20I setup.

India Women Squad for Australia T20Is:

Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Renuka Singh Thakur, Meghna Singh, Anjali Sarvani, Devika Vaidya, S Meghana, Richa Ghosh, Harleen Deol.