Women's Asia Cup 2022: The Asia Cup is all set to return, but this time it will be contested by women cricketers. The marquee tournament that starts on October 1, 2022, will be hosted by Bangladesh. The Board of Control for Cricket in India on September 21, 2022, Wednesday announced a 15-member squad that will take on other Asian cricketing nations. The Indian contingency will be led by Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana will be her deputy for this tournament.
In certain notable changes to the squad, Jemimah Rodrigues makes her return to the Indian team. Rodrigues who was nursing a calf injury missed out on India's tour to England despite being named in the final squad. India has chosen Richa Ghosh to keep wickets, whereas the Indian pace battery consists of the likes of Renuka Singh, Meghna Sigh, and Pooja Vastrakar. The Indian team has also named two standby players Tanya Bhatia and Simran Dil Bahadur.
The combination of the squad is such that Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma will open the batting for the Indian team. Apart from Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur, Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana other batters such as Sabbineni Meghana, Dayalan Hemalatha, and KP Navgire have been named to provide stability to the batting in case there are any injuries. The addition of Deepti Sharma gives the Indian batting more depth. The spin department of India looks decent too as it includes the likes of Radha Yadav, Sneh Rana, and Rajeshwari Gayakwad.
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This edition of the Women's Asia Cup will be contested in the T20 format. The scheduled start of this event is on October 1, 2022. The Indian team starts their campaign on the opening day against Sri Lanka. They will later play Malaysia on October 3, 2022, and UAE on October 4, 2022. The Indian team will later take on Pakistan on October 7, 2022.
India Women's squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Sabbineni Meghana, Richa Ghosh (wicket-keeper), Sneh Rana, Dayalan Hemalatha, Meghna Singh, Renuka Thakur, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Radha Yadav, K.P. Navgire
