India choses inexperienced Yastika Bhatia and Meghna Singh for Australia Tests

Meghna Singh, Yastika Bhatia, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, and Richa Ghosh have been named in the Indian Women’s Test and ODI squads for the September-October tour of Australia. Meghna, a medium-pacer for the Railways, and Yastika, a left-handed batter for Baroda, are both uncapped at the international level, while Rajeshwari, a left-arm spinner, returns to the team after missing the England series owing to a knee injury.

Meanwhile, Radha Yadav, Arundhati Reddy, Priya Punia, and Indrani Roy were left out of the Indian Test and ODI squads in England. The 18-member Indian squad for the one-off Test and three One-Day Internationals against Australia includes 14 players who were part of England’s Test and ODI squads.

Yastika, Meghna, and Rajeshwari are among the players named to Australia’s T20I team after missing out on the 20-overs squad in England. Renuka Singh Thakur, a 25-year-old medium-pacer from Himachal Pradesh, is the other uncapped player in the T20I team.

Mithali Raj will captain the 18-member ODI and Test team, while Harmanpreet Kaur will captain the 17-member T20I side. All of the regular suspects are present in both teams, including Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues, who both appeared in the first edition of The Hundred. The ODIs at the North Sydney Oval in Sydney will kick off the visit Down Under on September 19.

India Women’s Test & ODI squad

 Mithali Raj (Captain), Harmanpreet Kaur (vice-captain), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Punam Raut, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Yastika Bhatia, Taniya Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Shikha Pandey, Jhulan Goswami, Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Richa Ghosh, Ekta Bisht.

India Women’s T20I squad

Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Yastika Bhatia, Shikha Pandey, Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Richa Ghosh (wicket-keeper), Harleen Deol, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Renuka Singh Thakur