India Women's squad for New Zealand ODIs announced, star cricketer misses out due to board exams

On Thursday, October 17, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the strong 16-member squad of the India Women's National Cricket Team for the upcoming One Day International (ODI) series against the New Zealand Women's National Cricket Team.

The squad announced by the BCCI for the matches against the White Ferns is along the expected lines. However, there have been three major changes to the India Women's National Cricket Team.

Richa Ghosh Out Of New Zealand ODIs Due To 12th Board Exams

Harmanpreet Kaur, whose captaincy has come under fire in recent times, will continue to lead the side in the matches against New Zealand with the star batter Smriti Mandhana serving as her deputy.

The star players Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, and Shreyanka Patil are present in the squad while Yastika Bhatia and Uma Chetry are two wicket-keeping options.

India's star wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh has not been included in the ODI squad because she made herself unavailable for selection. The 21-year-old is unavailable for national duty because she is focusing on her studies and will appear for her 12th standard board exams when India Women's take on New Zealand Women's.

Asha Sobhana and Pooja Vastrakar will also miss the series against the White Ferns. Pooja has been given a much-needed rest, while Sobhana has been ruled out of the series with an injury.

Asha Sobhana had got injured ahead of the crucial match of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 against Australia Women's National Cricket Team at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Sunday, October 13. She was initially picked in the India XI but she suffered a knee injury on the sidelines of the toss and got ruled out of the match.

"Ms. Richa Ghosh was unavailable for selection due to her 12th standard board exams. Ms. Asha Sobhana is currently nursing an injury and was unavailable for selection. Ms. Pooja Vastrakar has been rested for the series," the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) stated.

India Women's squad for three ODIs against New Zealand:

Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, D Hemalatha, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Uma Chetry (wk), Sayali Satgare, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh Thakur, Tejal Hasabnis, Saima Thakor, Priya Mishra, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil.

India Women's Were Extremely Poor In T20 World Cup 2024

The Harmanpreet Kaur-led India Women's National Cricket Team delivered a poor performance in the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 and crashed out of the group stage itself.

Heading into the competition, India Women's had momentum on their side as they beat West Indies and South Africa quite comfortably in the warm-up matches. However, they were not able to replicate that performance in the main tournament.

India opened their campaign with a 58-run loss to New Zealand Women's, before winning by 6 wickets and 82 runs against Pakistan Women's and Sri Lanka Women's. The Women In Blue then lost to Australia Women's by 9 runs and eventually got eliminated from the tournament.

Coming back to the New Zealand Women's tour of India 2024, the matches are set to be held on October 24, 27, and 29 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.