Indian women's cricket team will play in the tri-angular T20I series in South Africa to prepare for the Women's T20 World Cup that kickstarts next month in Rainbow nation. The series involves India, South Africa and West Indies. The series starts witht the first match between India women and South Africa women. India struggled against the current World Cup champions Australia at home and would be looking to make lots of ammends. India had lost that 5-match series vs Australia 4-1 and that is why the team needs to reboot with World Cup so close. For the same reason, India have recalled experienced pacer Shikha Pandey and she is expected to fill in the shoes of Jhulan Goswami, who retired last year. Shikha is returning to the national side after a gap of 15 months and would be quite excited to play the upcoming series to get some sort of rhythm.
"She's (Shikha) a very experienced bowler, that's the only reason we wanted to bring her in the side," Harmanpreet told reporters on the eve of their Tri-series opener against hosts South Africa. "The tracks in South Africa are more friendly. We wanted to strengthen our medium pace lineup as we are in South Africa. We need more pace bowling options. She (Shikha) did really well in the domestic season. She has done really well for the country whenever she got an opportunity. That's the reason she has been recalled." Asked about what would be Shikha's role in the side, Harmanpreet said: "She's someone who can swing in powerplay, she has the experience to bowl in death overs also. We have given her different types of scenarios where she can go and execute herself.
"We just want to play our natural game, that's what we are discussing. We don't want to try anything extra, and continue what we are doing well."
The India skipper said the three-nation tournament is very important in the context of the upcoming World Cup.
____ It is a great initiative by BCCI and everybody is waiting for the Women's IPL to start; it will take women's cricket forward. #TeamIndia captain @ImHarmanpreet speaks about the upcoming inaugural edition of the Women's IPL ahead of the Tri-Series in South Africa. pic.twitter.com/nqdNFKxxjA
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) January 19, 2023
Here's everything you need to know about the game between the South African and Indian women:
This match will be telecast on the Star Sports Network in India
The match between SA-W vs IND-W is available for live streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.
The South Africa women vs India women match will be played on Thursday, January 19 at 10:30 pm IST.
Captain: S Mandhana
Vice-captain: M Kapp
Wicketkeepers: Y Bhatia,
Batters: L Wolvaardt, H Kaur, S Mandhana, S Luus
All-rounders: M Kapp, D Sharma, C Tryon
Bowlers: A Khaka, S Ismail, R Singh
South Africa women cricket team predicted playing XI: L Wolvaardt, T Brits, S Luus(C), Anneke Bosch, M Kapp, C Tryon, S Jafta, N de Klerk, A Khaka, S Ismail, M Klaas
India women cricket team: S Mandhana, J Rodrigues, Y Bhatia, DP Vaidya, H Kaur(C), D Sharma, Sneh Rana, S Verma, P Vastrakar, S Pandey, R Singh
Stay informed on all the latest news, real-time breaking news updates, and follow all the important headlines in india news and world News on Zee News.