India Women vs England: Shafali Verma named in ODI and Test squads, pacer Shikha Pandey returns

BCCI on Friday announced India’s Senior Women squad for the only Test match, ODI and T20 series against England.

As expected 17-year-old opener Shafali Verma broke into the ODI and Test squads. Senior pacer Shikha Pandey, who was dropped from the home series against South Africa Women in March this year, has been called back for the all-important tour ahead of the 50-over World Cup in February next year.

Mithali Raj will be captaining the ODI and Test sides, while responsibility of leading India Women in the shortest format will be on Harmanpreet Kaur.

Taniya Bhatia and Indrani Roy have been named as the two wicketkeeper-batters for the tour. Roy is uncapped and represents Jharkhand Women in domestic circuit.

The tour will be India Women’s newly-appointed coach Ramesh Powar’s first assignment in his second stint as the head coach of the team. The former India off-spinner replaced WV Raman in the position on Thursday.

India’s Senior Women squad for Test & ODI : Mithali Raj (Captain), Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur (vice-captain), Punam Raut, Priya Punia, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Sneh Rana, Taniya Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Indrani Roy (wicket-keeper), Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Radha Yadav.

India’s Senior Women squad for T20I : Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain) Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, Harleen Deol, Sneh Rana, Taniya Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Indrani Roy (wicket-keeper), Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Radha Yadav, Simaran Dil Bahadur.

The Indian women’s cricket team will play a historic one-off Test against England in Bristol as part of a multi-format series that will also feature three ODIs and as many T20 Internationals starting June 16.

The Test will be played at the Bristol County Ground from June 16-19, kicking off the England team’s summer. The match was first confirmed by BCCI Secretary Jay Shah earlier this year but the exact date and venue were unveiled by the host board in April.

ECB Chief Executive Officer, Tom Harrison, had said, “We’re really looking forward to a busy summer in what is a huge year for our England Women’s team, and we’re very excited about hosting India and New Zealand.”

While the Indian women’s team will take part in a Test for the first time since 2014, England last played the longest format of the game during the Ashes 2019.

The one-off Test will be followed by 3 ODIs and and as many T20Is. The tour will conclude on July 15 in Chelmsford.

India Women returned to action for the first time after the final of the Women’s T20 World Cup in Melbourne on March 8 and played 5 ODIs and 3 T20Is against South Africa Women from March 7 to March 23 in Lucknow this year. They lost the ODI series 1-4 and T20I series 1-2 against South Africa Women in Lucknow.

Before the South Africa home series, India players had featured in the 4-match Women’s T20 Challenge which was held alongside the Indian Premier League 2020 play-offs in the UAE. Mithali Raj, Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur lead 3 teams as they played their matches in Sharjah.

India Women’s tour of England full schedule:

June 16-19 Test match Bristol County Ground
June 27 1st ODI Bristol County Ground
June 30 2nd ODI The Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton
July 3 3rd ODI New Road, Worcester
July 9 1st T20I The County Ground, Northampton
July 11 2nd T20I The 1st Central County Ground, Hove
July 15 3rd T20I The Cloudfm County Ground, Chelmsford