Former Test opener SS Das appointed India Women batting coach, Narendra Hirwani no longer spin consultant

In a major reshuffle of the India Women support staff, former India batsman Shiv Sunder Das has been appointed as the batting coach for the upcoming England tour starting on June 16. Spin consultant Narendra Hirwani has been left out of the nine-member coaching contingent.

The developments came after the Madan Lal-led Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) re-appointed Ramesh Powar as the head coach of the India eves on May 13. The former India off-spinner replaced WV Raman, who served in the role from late 2018 until the home series against South Africa in March this year.

SS Das previously worked with the India Women’s A team, including the 2020 quadrangular series in Patna. Expressing excitement over being part of the senior side for the first time, the former Test opener said he would be able to give inputs based on his experience of playing in English conditions.

“This is the first time I have been assigned a job with the India women’s national team, so it’s a quite exciting time for me. I am really looking forward to it. It will be a good challenge for me because I’ve toured England as a player and played a lot of league cricket.

“Conditions wise, I’m a bit familiar, so it will be nice to add value to the team. My focus is only on the England tour as of now because I’ve come in for the England tour,” SS Das, who scored 1,326 runs in 23 Tests, was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

Among the other new additions, Abhay Sharma has been appointed the fielding coach, while Rajkuvardevi Gaekwad – the current Baroda women’s selection panel chief – has replaced long-time manager Trupti Bhattacharya. Former India left-arm spinner Narendra Hirwani, who is the National Cricket Academy (NCA) bowling coach and worked as the spin consultant under Raman’s reign, has been left out.

The coaching staff also includes trainer R Naresh, video analyst Sandeep Raju and masseuse Neerja Desai. All nine of them and the 21-member playing squad have been asked to report on May 19 to Mumbai, where they will undergo hard quarantine and COVID-19 tests before departing for the UK.

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India Women full squads and schedule for England tour

India Women squad for Test and ODIs: Mithali Raj (captain), Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur (vice-captain), Punam Raut, Priya Punia, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Sneh Rana, Taniya Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Indrani Roy (wicket-keeper), Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Radha Yadav

India Women squad for T20Is: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain) Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, Harleen Deol, Sneh Rana, Taniya Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Indrani Roy (wicket-keeper), Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Radha Yadav, Simaran Dil Bahadur

Only Test: June 16-19 - County Ground, Bristol – 3:30 PM

1st ODI: June 27 – County Ground, Bristol – 3:00 PM

2nd ODI: June 30 – The Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton – 6:30 PM

3rd ODI: July 3 – New Road, Worcester – 3:00 PM

1st T20I: July 9 – County Ground, Northampton – 11:00 PM

2nd T20I: July 11 – County Ground, Hove – 7:00 PM

3rd T20I: July 15 – County Ground, Chelmsford – 7:00 PM