ICC Women's World T20 2020 | Richa Ghosh new face in Harmanpreet Kaur-led 15-member squad

01/12/2020

The senior women's selection committee has announced a 15-member squad for the ICC Women's World T20 as they included Bengal's Richa Ghosh as the only new face the squad. Richa has been rewarded for her exploits in the women's Challenger Trophy, where she scored 36 off 26 balls for India B side.

Ghosh was a star for the Bengal U-19 side last season and on the back of her exploits, she has found a place in the Women's Challenger Trophy side. A string of promising performances in the middle order for the Smriti Mandhana-led India 'B' side, where she top-scored with 25 in a low-scorer against India C and then slammed a 25-ball 36 in a chase of 149 against the same opposition in the reverse fixture, ensured her ticket to Australia.

The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side, however, doesn't have any other surprise packages as the 15-year-old schoolgirl Shafali Verma will also be playing her first global tournament following some good performances at the international level in her first season. The squad also has the likes of Tanya Bhatia, Pooja Vastrakar and Arundhati Reddy who cap off a strong squad for the second standalone Women's T20 World Cup.

While Anuja Patil and Mansi Joshi have missed out from the squad, Rajeshwari Gayakwad made her way back to the side despite missing the Windies series towards the back end of the last year.

With as many as four spinners in the side, Indian bowling department seems to be settled with Poonam Yadav leading the way. Yadav has picked up 51 wickets over the past two years and was named by the BCCI as India's best female cricketer in 2018-19. Surprisingly though, there have been a total of three seam bowling options in the form of Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar and Arundhati Reddy despite the wickets in Australia will be in favour of the pacers more than the spinners.

The selectors also announced a 16-member squad for a tri-series in Australia prior to the T20 World Cup. Nuzhat Parveen is the 16th member of the squad that will take on England and Australia from January 31.

India Women’s squad for T20 World Cup 2020: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Veda Krishnamurthy, Richa Ghosh, Taniya Bhatia (WK), Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy.

📢Squad Announcement📢@ImHarmanpreet will lead India's charge at @T20WorldCup #T20WorldCup #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/QkpyypyJKc

— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) January 12, 2020