The squad is similar to what played against England in the recently-concluded T20I series, except for one addition in the form of middle-order specialist Jemimah Rodrigues. Notably, the right-handed batter missed the ongoing England tour due to a wrist injury she picked up during her stint at the Women’s Hundred with Northern Superchargers. Since her return, Rodrigues has undergone three weeks of rehab at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.
Richa Ghosh, who impressed with her lower-order hitting during the series against the English side, has retained her place as the frontline wicketkeeper. This also has put Taniya Bhatia, who was the first-choice wicketkeeper at the Commonwealth Games, on the standby list along with medium-pacer Simran Bahadur.
On the bowling front, Meghna Singh and Renuka Singh will lead the pace attack, with allrounder Pooja Vastrakar being the third-seam option. Amongst spinners, the Women in Blue have two left-arm tweakers in the form of Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Radha Yadav, while Sneh Rana and Deepti Sharma, both allrounders, will contribute with off-spin in the balanced squad led by Harmanpreet Kaur.
Regarding the multi-team event, India will start their campaign on the opening day (October 1) against Sri Lanka before facing Malaysia and UAE on October 3 and 4, respectively. They will then meet arch-rivals Pakistan and neighbour Bangladesh on October 7 and 8 before taking on Thailand on October 10 to round off their league matches.
India squad for Women’s Asia Cup 2022:
Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, S Meghana, Richa Ghosh (wk), Sneh Rana, Dayalan Hemalatha, Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Radha Yadav, Kiran Navgire.
Standby players: Taniya Bhatia, Simran Bahadur
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