Kaur to lead India for Caribbean World Cup

MUMBAI, India, CMC – Experienced stroke-maker Harmanpreet Kaur will lead India to November Women’s Twenty20 World Cup in the Caribbean, in a strong 15-member side named for the ICC standalone tournament.

The 29-year-old, who has played 88 Twenty20 Internationals, took over the captaincy from current one-day skipper Mithali Raj following the 2016 T20 World Cup which West Indies won to clinch their maiden title.

Kaur has emerged as one of India’s leading batsmen, with 11 half-centuries in ODIs and six in T20 Internationals.

She will have as her deputy Smriti Mandhana, the exciting 22-year-old opener who has already struck three hundreds in 44 ODIs and five half-centuries in T20 Internationals.

Raj, the veteran 35-year-old right-hander, will continue in the squad, bringing her experience of 197 ODIs and 82 T20Is.

Eighteen-year-old Jemimah Rodrigues, who made her T20 debut earlier this month and 20-year-old Tanya Bhatia, who debuted earlier this year, have both made the cut.

India will do battle in Group B of the November 9-24 tournament, alongside the likes of Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and Ireland.

Group A will comprise defending champions West Indies, England, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The preliminaries will be staged in Guyana and St Lucia, with the semi-finals and final set for Antigua.

SQUAD – Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Mithali Raj, Jemimah Rodrigues, Veda Krishnamurthy, Deepti Sharma, Tanya Bhatia (wicketkeeper), Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav, Anuja Patil, Ekta Bisht, D Hemalatha, Mansi Joshi, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy