Punam Raut to lead India A against Australia A
NEW DELHI: Punam Raut will lead the Indian Women’s A side for a three-match ODI home series against Australia A to be held in Mumbai from October 15 to 19. The ODI series will be followed by a T20 series and the squad for it will be named later, according to a media release.
India A Women’s ODI squad: Punam Raut (captain), Priya Punia, Devika Vaidya, Mona Meshram, Tanushree Sarkar, Sushma Verma (wicket-keeper), Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Sushree Dibyadarshani, C Prathyusha, Reemalaxmi Ekka, Shikha Pandey, Nethra L, Hemali Borwankar, Kavita Patil, Preeti Bose. HYDERABAD: The West Indies series sandwiched between the testing ones in England and Australia may not be an ideal way to iron out the flaws exposed in their recent 4-1 loss, but India are already taking positives from it before going Down Under. Skipper Virat Kohli is over the moon with what some of the youngsters have brought to the table and is confident that India’s next generation of cricket stars have crossed the production line.
Prithvi Shaw has already become the find of this low profile West Indies series after his debut century in Rajkot and England has thrown up the likes of Rishabh Pant and Hanuma Vihari. Pant, getting a look in after Wriddhiman Saha was injured, had a decent show with the gloves and impressed with a century at The Oval. Vihari too chipped in with a solid half-century and three wickets at the Kennington Oval, albeit in a lost cause.
With the three proving mettle, India now have a batsman who can keep, a solid opener and an orthodox off-spinning allrounder to balance a pace-bowling all-rounder in Hardik Pandya.
And with Virat very comfortable with changes in the playing XI, more youngsters could fancy a look into the longest format of the game.
The India skipper said he believed the youngsters getting into the side now are much better groomed to take on international cricket than debutants 10 or 15 years back and India are reaping the benefits of having the high profile Indian Premier League. “They’re (youngsters) already exposed to the environment that an international game would replicate,” Virat said a day before India’s second Test against West
Indies here at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium here.
“But there’s always pressure of playing for the country. When you get that cap in the morning of the game, there’s always butterflies in the stomach and I’m sure everyone feels that pressure but I’m sure it’s not as intense as 10-15 years back, when you didn’t have any exposure in this kind of cricket and suddenly you’re put out there in a Test match making your debut for India – the highest or toughest thing there could be,” he said.
“But they have played in situations in the IPL where they play in front of so many people that they’re not nervous anymore of the big stage. Yes they might have that eagerness to perform or the pressure to perform. But I think they’re not overawed by the situation and I think that’s always going to be an advantage because the guys coming in can start doing the job from game one. Both these young guys (Pant and Shaw) have done that and