Indian Women squad for Australia tour announced: Yastika Bhatia gets maiden Test call-up, Rajeshwari Gayakwad returns

The BCCI announced the Indian women’s squad for the upcoming tour of Australia, which comprises a one-off Test match, 3 ODIs and as many T20Is, on Tuesday (August 24). Veteran Indian batswoman Mithali Raj will lead the side in Tests and ODIs with Harmanpreet Kaur as her deputy.

Some new names made it to the squad while some familiar faces made a comeback.

Opener Yastika Bhatia and medium-pacer Meghna Singh received their maiden call-ups to the Test squad. Tweaker Rajeshwari Gayakwad, who missed out on making the squad against England earlier this year, returned to the fold.

Former India international Gargi Banerjee has been appointed manager of the team for its tour of Australia. She was earlier the chairperson of the national women’s selection committee.

The team will depart for Australia from Bengaluru on August 29 and will have to go through a 14-day quarantine upon their arrival.

Indian players who featured in The Hundred have been asked to report to Bengaluru by August 22, following which they will serve a six-day quarantine period before being allowed to fly out with the team. Players and staff will be tested regularly before they fly to Australia.

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A look at the Indian Women squad for the tour against Australia

Indian womenSquad for one-off Test & ODI series: Mithali Raj (Captain), Harmanpreet Kaur (vice-captain), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Punam Raut, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Yastika Bhatia, Taniya Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Shikha Pandey, Jhulan Goswami, Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Richa Ghosh, Ekta Bisht.

Indian women T20I squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Yastika Bhatia, Shikha Pandey, Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Richa Ghosh (wicket-keeper), Harleen Deol, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Renuka Singh Thakur.