Smriti Mandhana will lead the Indian women’s team for the three-match ODI series against Ireland, starting January 10 in Rajkot. The announcement came after regular captain Harmanpreet Kaur and fast bowler Renuka Singh were rested to manage their workload.
Cricketer Smriti Mandhana (Picture Credits - IANS)
Smriti Mandhana will lead the Indian women’s team for the three-match ODI series against Ireland, starting January 10 in Rajkot. The announcement came after regular captain Harmanpreet Kaur and fast bowler Renuka Singh were rested to manage their workload.
Deepti Sharma has been named Mandhana’s deputy for the series.
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The uncapped pair of Raghvi Bist and Sayali Satghare have been called up for the three 50-over games, while the likes of Arundhati Reddy, Shafali Verma and Radha Yadav continue to miss out. Bist recently made her T20I debut in the series against West Indies in Navi Mumbai last month, where she played two games and made scores of 5 and 31.
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Satghare, meanwhile, received her India call-up for the ODIs against New Zealand last October, but did not get a game.
The rest of the squad wears a familiar look with Pratika Rawal and Tanuja Kanwar, who made their India debuts during the West Indies ODIs in Vadodara, retaining their places in the squad.
Mandhana, who also stood in as captain when Harmanpreet sat out of the last two T20Is against West Indies, will be looking to continue her impressive run of form, after her string of good performances against the West Indies in both T20Is and the ODIs last month.
Harleen Deol, who made a mark with her maiden ODI hundred against West Indies, will also be looking to carry her form with the bat.
The India-Ireland series is a part of the 2022-2025 future tours programme, and will be Ireland’s first-ever bilateral tour of India, and the teams’ first series against each other since 2006. Ireland have lost all of the 12 ODIs they have played against India so far.
The sides last met in the T20 World Cup in 2023, when India won by five runs.
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