Smriti Mandhana is the mainstay of the Indian batting.
| Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
The Women in Blue have a wonderful alternative to do what the Men in Blue couldn’t do two years in the past: win a World Cup at dwelling. The males had an ideal marketing campaign till they had been undone in the ultimate by Australia and an Ahmedabad slow-turner. The girls too needs to be cautious of the defending champion from Down Under.
It isn’t just the house benefit that Harmanpreet Kaur’s girls have. They are in type, too, as they dream of changing into the primary ever girls’s World champions from India.
On their final tour, that they had not merely crushed England, however made history, too. And simply this month, they ended a worrying dropping streak towards Australia; and so they then threatened to pull off a miracle, chasing 413 in the ultimate ODI.
Smriti Mandhana spearheaded that chase at New Delhi along with her second successive hundred in the collection, and he or she had scored a fifty in the primary sport. If her unimaginable run continues on the World Cup too, the host needs to be taking a look at some huge totals.
Dream duo
Smriti has struck a wonderful opening partnership with Pratika Rawal, who has had a terrific begin to her worldwide profession. She has made the Indian top-order stable, although an excessive amount of is made of her strike-rate, which, at 84.95, doesn’t pale a lot in comparability with others in the batting line-up. Harmanpreet, who reserves her greatest for the grand levels, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol and Richa Ghosh too promise runs.
The Indian assault is bolstered by the return from harm of seamer Renuka Singh and he or she has the younger Kranti Goud for assist. There are lots of choices in spin in Deepti Sharma, Radha Yadav, Sneh Rana and N. Shree Charani.
Deepti’s runs in the center order too may depend. India must also be hoping seaming all-rounder Amanjot Kaur is raring to go.
The squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (Capt.), Smriti Mandhana, Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Deepti Sharma, Amanjot Kaur, Radha Yadav, Kranti Gaud, Renuka Singh, Arundhati Reddy, Sneh Rana, N. Shree Charani and Uma Chetry.
India’s fixtures: Sept. 30: Sri Lanka (Guwahati); Oct. 5: Pakistan (Colombo); Oct. 9: South Africa (Visakhapatnam); Oct. 12: Australia (Visakhapatnam); Oct. 19: England (Indore); Oct. 23: New Zealand (Navi Mumbai); Oct. 26: Bangladesh (Navi Mumbai).
Published – September 28, 2025 08:50 pm IST