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India's Depth Good Headache To Have: Head Coach
Follow UsThe head coach also did not rule out Shafali Verma's return to the ODI squad in the near future
India Women will head into the One-Day International (ODI) series on the back of a triumphant T20 International (T20I) series, which they won 3-2. They now turn attention to the ODI series, which will kick start with the first game on July 16 (Wednesday) at Southampton.
India Women have plenty of talent at their disposal, which head coach Amol Muzumdar believes is a good headache to have.
"So I think there's a lot of depth in this Indian line-up, a good headache to have as a coaching staff," Muzumdar said, according to ICC-Cricket.com.
Among those headaches is the question of who gets the nod to open alongside Smriti Mandhana. With Shafali Verma not picked for the ODIs, that role for this series at least will go to Pratika Raval, who in her 11 ODIs averages 63.80, with five centuries to her name.
With the World Cup around the corner, Muzumdar says that the door is not completely shut on Shafali's return to the ODI scheme of things.
"Pratika Rawal, she was drafted in the month of December, so it's almost six months, but she has left a big mark in her initial stage in her international career," Muzumdar said.
“And Shafali has been a terrific player. There's no doubt about it that she will be in the mix. She will be amongst the core group of India. There's no doubt in my mind about it. But at the moment, Pratika has joined the squad probably four or five days prior to the ODI. The depth is stronger, it's getting stronger."
Another youngster Muzumdar is particularly pleased with is Shree Charani, who picked up 10 wickets in the T20I series. Muzumdar has credited the Women's Premier League (WPL) for the left-arm spinner's growth.
"She's been a find of the WPL. From the WPL, we identified her, and then I think her progress has been fantastic, she's been phenomenal in this series. We were searching for a left-arm spinner and she fitted the bill perfectly," he said.
After the first ODI in Southampton, the action will shift to Lord's (July 19) and Chester-le-Street (July 22) for the second and third ODIs, respectively.