IND vs SA

The Indian women’s team will finally be able to shake off the rust after 12 months without international cricket and will begin their preparation for the ODI World Cup with the five-match series against South Africa that begins here on Sunday.

While the South Africans enter the series fresh from their home game against Pakistan last month, the Indians last played on March 8, 2020 when they lost to Australia in the T20 World Cup final.

The quarantine protocol in times of COVID has granted only two days of networking to both teams, making it difficult for players to be at their best from the get-go.

It can be safely said that the Indians have lagged behind in their preparation for the World Cup compared to England, New Zealand and Australia, who have played more regularly amid the pandemic.

The new selection committee has come up with its own vision and chose six unlimited players for the eight-match contest that also includes three T20s, excluding veteran players such as Shikha Pandey, Taniya Bhatia and Veda Krishnamurthy. The non-selection of T20 star Shafali Verma for the ODI has also raised some eyebrows.

Harmanpreet Kaur, who is Mithali Raj’s substitute in ODIs and captain of the T20, insisted that rust will not be a problem for them and that the players are eager to get out on the field after a long space.

“It was a long hiatus, but sometimes things are not under your control, now we are playing cricket and we have to make sure we use this time and make our best combination for the next tournaments”, Harmanpreet, who will play his 100th ODI on Sunday , had said two days before the opening of the series.

Although the players did not have a lot of playing time in the last year, they made sure that their physical condition was not affected. Some of the players, including Jemimah Rodrigues and Deepti Sharma, used the free time to play in club tournaments, as they did not know when the next assignment from India would arrive.

With the ODI World Cup scheduled in New Zealand early next year, the team needs to explore options in the middle order and in the pacing department.

South Africa, who recently beat Pakistan 3-0, will miss their regular skipper Dane van Niekerk and all-rounder Chloe Tyron for the tour of India. Sune Luus will lead the team in Niekerk’s absence.

The visitors had very little time to get used to the conditions, but they enter the series with much more match time than the hosts.

All matches will be played at the state-of-the-art Ekana Stadium with a maximum capacity of 10 percent.

Teams (from)

Indian women: Mithali Raj (captain), Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Punam Raut, Priya Punia, Yastika Bhatia, Harmanpreet Kaur, D Hemalatha, Deepti Sharma, Sushma Verma (goalkeeper), Swetha Verma, Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayak Jhulan Goswami, Mansi Joshi, Poonam Yadav, C Prathyusha, Monica Patel.

South African women: Sune Luus (captain), Ayabonga Khaka, Shabnim Ismail, Laura Wolvaardt, Trisha Chetty, Sinalo Jafta, Tasmin Britz, Marizanne Kapp, Nondumiso Shangase, Lizelle Lee, Anneke Bosch, Faye Tunnicliffe, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Mignon du Preez, Nadine de Klerk, Lara Goodall, Tumi Sekhukhune.

The match starts at 9 am.

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