No Shafali, Arundhati snubbed: Talking points from India Women’s ODI squad vs Ireland

After their impressive performances in the T20I and ODI series against the West Indies, India Women are all set for their three-match ODI series against Ireland, starting January 10 at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot. On Monday.

India named their squad for the series and made quite a few changes from their series win over Hayley Matthews’ troops. Smriti Mandhana will lead them in the absence of Harmanpreet Kaur, who has been rested for the series. Mandhana also stood in for Harmanpreet in the series against West Indies. India also gave a break to their premier speedster Renuka Singh, who recently became one of the few Indian pacers along with Jhulan Goswami to take a five-wicket haul.

Although being the hosts, India have already qualified for the ODI World Cup 2025, but they would still want to finish second in the Women’s Championship after Australia sealed the top spot. Meanwhile, the squad against Ireland threw in a few surprises and also gave an insight into India’s plans before the mega event later this year.

Shafali Verma’s wait prolongs
Shafali Verma’s wait for a comeback to the national team has prolonged after again being left out. After missing the ODIs in Australia and the limited-overs series at home against the West Indies, the youngster won’t be a part of the series against Ireland either. Earlier, Harmanpreet Kaur had said that Shafali needed to be ‘in the zone’ to stake her claim back to the Indian setup.

Shafali was stupendous in the Senior Women’s One-Day Trophy where she finished as the leading run-scorer. In seven games, she scored 527 runs at an average of 75.29 and a strike-rate of 152.31 with two centuries and two fifties. Against Bengal, she blasted 197 runs off 115 balls, although in a losing cause.

But for her, her efforts in the domestic competition couldn’t suffice for a berth in the squad for the Ireland ODIs. India have persisted with Pratika Rawal as Smriti Mandhana’s opening partner after she was impressive in her maiden ODI series against the West Indies.

Arundhati Reddy left out once again
Arundhati Reddy was India’s joint-highest wicket-taker in the Women’s T20 World Cup, where she accounted for seven scalps at an economy rate of six. In Australia, the speedster played only a solitary ODI where she rattled the opposition top order with figures of 10-2-26-4. But since then, mysteriously, she hasn’t donned the national jersey in any format.

Despite performing to the best of her ability, Arundhati has struggled to be a regular member of India’s national team. For the series against Ireland, India have Saima Thakor and Titas Sadhu as their frontline fast bowlers.

India keep experimenting aggressively
Since the T20 World Cup, India have gone on a massive experimental spree in the ODI format. Minnu Mani, Tejal Hasabnis, Pratika Rawal, Titas Sadhu, Saima Thakor, Priya Mishra and Tanuja Kanwar are the ones to have made their debuts for India in the last two and a half months.

For the upcoming series, India handed a maiden ODI call-up to Raghvi Bist. They also recalled Mumbai all-rounder Sayali Satghare. Sayali, who plays for the Gujarat Giants in the WPL, was also a part of the ODIs against New Zealand back in October, but did not get a chance to play.

Before the ODI World Cup to be held next year on home soil, India are trying to build a pool of players for the future and have enough replacements and options up their sleeves.

Raghvi Bist rewarded
Raghvi Bist, the hard-hitting batter from Uttarakhand, earned her maiden ODI call-up for the Ireland series. The 20-year-old recently made her debut in the T20I series against West Indies and grabbed the limelight with her ability to strike the ball cleanly. Although she failed on debut, she scored an unbeaten 31 in her second appearance for the national team.

Raghvi registered her first boundary for India with a powerful strike over mid-wicket off Karishma Ramharack. After the match, the youngster earned praise from Smriti Mandhana, who said, “The way Raghvi batted was impressive. She came in with lots of intent and hitting her fourth or fifth ball for six, I would not have been able to do that in my second match.”

After getting scores of 82, 70 and 53 against Australia A back in August, Raghvi hasn’t taken a backward step. Raghvi also had her fair share of success in the Senior Women’s One-Day Trophy where she made 172 runs with two half-centuries.