On Monday, the Indian women's squad for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games was announced. Wicket-keeper Taniya Bhatia, who has an average strike rate of under 100 in T20 format, was selected, while brisk batter Richa Ghosh was placed on the stand-by list. The all-rounder Sneh Rana is the most prominent player to return to the national team; she missed the Sri Lanka series due to an injury that required rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA). Yastika Bhatia, a converted keeper, will be the team's primary stumper under the direction of Harmanpreet Kaur.
Taniya's selection was unexpected given that the selection committee, which was directed by Neetu David, had brought back a keeper-batter who had scored 166 runs overall in 22 innings at an average of 9.72 and a strike-rate of 94.
Bengal's Richa Ghosh was the subject. She has scored 191 runs in 14 games with a strike rate of 112 or above, but she is now on the reserves list since she has recently fallen off the radar.
Along with seamer Simran Dil Bahadur, veteran leg-spinner Poonam Yadav, whose inclusion in the squad is no longer guaranteed, is also on the stand-by list.
Pooja Vastrakar, Renuka Thakur, and Meghna Singh are the three pacers on the list.
With Australia, Barbados, and Pakistan, India is in Group A. Group B includes South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Sri Lanka. They play Australia on July 29, Pakistan on July 31, and Barbados on August 3.
The top two teams from each pool advance to the semi-final round.India squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, S. Meghana, Taniyaa Bhatia (Wk), Yastika Bhatia (Wk), Deepti Sharma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Thakur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Radha Yadav, Harleen Deol, Sneh Rana.
