Loss to Oz women prompts BCCI to strengthen bench
NEW DELHI: India’s heavy loss to Australia in the recent Women’s ODI Championship fixture has prompted the BCCI to expedite the process of strengthening the bench strength of national team.
After streamlining the domestic structure and introducing India A tours, the selectors have been asked to handpick a pool of pacers, spinners and wicketkeepers and test them in a camp at the National Cricket Academy beginning later this month.
The likes of Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami are not going to be around for long and the board feels that it is time to act now.
Lead pacer Jhulan was not fit to play against Australia and that hurt the team which was blanked 0-3 in the series.
The women’s committee — comprising COA member Diana Edulji, Mithali (ODI captain), Harmanpreet Kaur (T20 captain), Hemlata Kala (selection committee chief) and Prof. Ratnakar Shetty (convenor) — will meet on March 28 to review the team’s disappointing performance against Australia and discuss the way forward.
“There is a definite need for more quality pace bowlers and spinners. The Australia series showed us that. They played our spinners rather easily while our team struggled against theirs. We also need more firepower in the batting department,” said Edulji, who is also a former India captain. “More consistency is also expected from established names like Harmanpreet and opener Smriti Mandhana.”
Looking ahead, the board is planning to scout for talent from all parts of the country including the North East.
“There is a need to find the right available talent from all parts of India including North East,” Edulji said.