India Women’s team take off to Brisbane

The Indian women’s team has left for Australia for a tournament consisting of a pink-ball Test and three ODIs and T20Is each. The squad led by Mithali Raj for Tests and ODIs and Harmanpreet Kaur for T20s will fly to Dubai from where they will take off to Brisbane. They will play their games in Brisbane.

Originally they were to fly to Sydney but Cricket Australia (CA) has moved the games to Queensland because of the pandemic situation in Australia. “The change of venue is because of the pandemic situation in the country,” a CA official said.This tour also involves a 14-day strict quarantine in Brisbane from August 30 to September 13. So, the players won’t be able to even net practice their skills. They do have access to gym facilities though which will keep them fresh and active in the quarantine.

After a four-day practice from September 14 to 17, the team plays a warm-up game (a List A match, vs Aus XI) in Brisbane on September 18 before playing their first game – an ODI – on September 21 in Mackay, which will also host the other two ODIs, on September 24 and 26. Since the schedule was revoked, the start of the series was pushed back by a couple of days.

The day-night Test – India’s first – will be from September 30 to October 3 in Metricon where the team winds up the tour with three T20Is (October 7 to 10). The team leaves Australia on October 11.

India Women’s squad for one-off Test & ODI series: Mithali Raj (Captain), Harmanpreet Kaur (vice-captain), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Punam Raut, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Yastika Bhatia, Taniya Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Shikha Pandey, Jhulan Goswami, Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Richa Ghosh, Ekta Bisht.

India Women’s T20I squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Yastika Bhatia, Shikha Pandey, Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Richa Ghosh (wicket-keeper), Harleen Deol, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Renuka Singh Thakur.