Jemimah, Shikha left out of squad for women’s WC

New Delhi, January 6

Top-order batter Jemimah Rodrigues and seasoned pacer Shikha Pandey were today dropped from India’s 15-member squad for the women’s ODI World Cup scheduled to be held in New Zealand from March 4 to April 3.

Left-handed batter Yastika Bhatia and the pace duo of Meghna Singh and Renuka Singh made the cut. The trio made waves during the Australia tour last year.

Renuka Singh Thakur, 25, hails from Parsa village in Rohru and has already played three WT20Is in Australia last year. This is the first time the right arm medium fast bowler has been selected for 50 overs tournament.

Rodrigues, who impressed in the T20I leagues in England and Australia, was not consistent enough in international cricket. Shikha, too, has been ignored due to her inconsistent form. Another top-order batter, Punam Raut, part of the team in England and Australia, has also been dropped with the selectors including more power-hitters in the side.

The same squad has been named for the preceding five ODIs against hosts New Zealand, beginning February 11. — PTI

Squad

Mithali Raj (C), Harmanpreet Kaur (VC), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (WK), Sneh Rana, Jhulan Goswami, Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh Thakur, Taniya Bhatia (WK), Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav

Standby Players: Sabbhineni Meghana, Ekta Bisht, Simran Dil Bahadur

Four from region

The squad includes four players from the region — Punjab’s Harmanpreet, Haryana’s Shafali, Himachal Pradesh’s Renuka and Chandigarh’s Taniya