Ritika
New Delhi: India all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar has been ruled out of the squad for the upcoming five-match T20 International series against Australia from December 9 in Mumbai due to injury, while the selectors on Friday included ‘uncapped’ left-arm pacer Anjali Sarwani. Pooja captained the India C team in the Women’s T20 Challenger in Raipur.
According to a statement issued by BCCI (Indian Cricket Board) secretary Jay Shah, “She has been ruled out due to injury and was not considered.” The 25-year-old left-arm medium pacer from Andhra, Anjali had impressed with her tight bowling for the Poonam Yadav-led India A in the Women’s Challenger earlier this month. Anjali also had a stellar performance against Bharat D, taking two wickets for 11 runs in her three overs to take the team to the final. In total, he took three wickets in four matches.
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The Australia series will also see Maharashtra’s left-arm all-rounder Devika Vaidya return to the team after more than four years. Devika, who made her T20 International debut against South Africa in 2014, played her last ODI in 2018 against England. Harmanpreet Kaur will lead the team while Smriti Mandhana will be the vice-captain.
India will play the first two T20 Internationals at the DY Patil Stadium on December 9 and 11 followed by the remaining three matches at the CCI on December 14, 17 and 20. The series is part of India’s preparations for the T20 World Cup starting February 10 in South Africa.
The team is as follows:
Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (Vice-Captain), Shefali Verma, Yastika Bhatia (Wicket-keeper), Jemima Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gaikwad, Renuka Singh Thakur, Meghna Singh, Anjali Saravani, Devika Vaidya, S Meghna, Richa Ghosh (wicketkeeper) and Harleen Deol.
