It will be a trial by fire for skipper Harmanpreet Kaur as India begins their preparations for next year's World Cup. The three-match ODI series against New Zealand begins on Thursday after suffering yet another failure to claim an ICC title recently. The series will be crucial for Kaur, who faced criticism for her captaincy during the recently held T20 World Cup in UAE where India failed to complete the group stage even as the skipper emerged as the highest scorer of the team in the tournament.
While India will be looking to bounce back from their forgettable UAE performance, New Zealand will be on a high after lifting the T20 World Cup trophy with a clinical performance throughout the tournament, barring their group match against Australia.
Kaur, 35, retained her place as captain despite questions about her leadership in recent times, and in the series against New Zealand she will have to make do without the services of great wicketkeeper-batsman Richa Ghosh, who will appear in her 12th standard exams.
The skipper was criticized for her actions in the final group match against Australia in UAE, with pundits and fans questioning her decision to take a single on the first delivery of the last over, leaving it to Shreyanka Patil left to hit two consecutive sixes. .
Experienced all-rounder Asha Sobhana will also miss out as she is battling an injury and was unavailable for selection, while Pooja Vastrakar, who injured herself during the tournament in UAE, has been rested for this series.
The squad includes a number of uncapped players as there were first call-ups for Tejal Hasabnis, Saima Thakor and Priya Mishra.
There will be a lot of expectations from the opening duo of Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana, with the duo only succeeding in patches in the T20 showpiece.
From India's point of view, it is important that the elegant Mandhana and the reckless Shafali set the top order on fire and set the tone.
As always, the onus is on Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues to run the middle order, but India will miss Ghosh's ability to hit fours and sixes at will.
With Harmanpreet facing a tough time as far as the captaincy is concerned, her deputy Mandhana is expected to help the skipper with her input.
All three matches will be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
Teams (away): India Women: Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), 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.
New Zealand women: Sophie Devine (capt), Suzie Bates, Eden Carson, Lauren Down, Izzy Gaze (wicketkeeper), Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Polly Inglis (wicketkeeper), Fran Jonas, Jess Kerr, Melie Kerr, Molly Penfold, Georgia Plimmer, Hannah Rowe, Lea Tahuhu.
The match will start at 1:30 PM IST.
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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