Mithali Raj to lead India in three-match ODI series against Australia

Opener Mithali Raj will lead a 15-member Indian women’s team in the three-match One-Day International (ODI) series against Australia to be held at Vadodara from March 12-18, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced on Tuesday. [caption id=“attachment_3852255” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of India captain Mithali Raj. Reuters[/caption] “The All-India Women’s Selection Committee has named the India Women’s squad for the Paytm ODI series against Australia Women. The three-match series that will be held in Vadodara is part of the ICC Women’s Championship (2017-2020),” BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary said. The Indian women’s team had a highly-successful tour of South Africa as Mithali led the ODI side to a 2-1 win, while Harmanpreet Kaur guided a young squad to an emphatic 3-1 victory in a five-match T20 International series to complete a rare double. India will start the three-match series with the first one-dayer on 12 March, followed by the second and third game on 15 March and 18 March respectively in Vadodara. “The ODI series will be followed by the T20I tri-series and the squad for the same will be named later,” BCCI said in a release. Squad: Mithali Raj (captain), Harmanpreet Kaur (vice-captain), Smriti Mandhana, Punam Raut, Jemimah Rodrigues, Veda Krishnamurthy, Mona Meshram, Sushma Verma (wicket-keeper), Ekta Bisht, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shikha Pandey, Sukanya Parida, Pooja Vastrakar, Deepti Sharma.