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India have retained Harmanpreet Kaur as captain in their squad for their upcoming ODI series against New Zealand.
Rumours had been circulating over Kaur’s future as India captain following her side’s early exit from the 2024 women’s T20 World Cup. India failed to progress to the knockout stage of the competition after losing to New Zealand and Australia in the group stage. The early exit means India are still searching for their maiden trophy in an ICC event, and have lost their second tournament in three months, after losing to Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final.
Kaur has been captain of the side since 2022, taking over from Mithali Raj, who captained India for 16 years (though Jhulan Goswami took over for a few years in between). Under Kaur’s leadership, India reached the final of the T20 World Cup in 2020 as well as the 2022 Commonwealth Games. They also beat England in a bilateral series away from home last year, and have beaten England, Australia and South Africa in Test matches over the last 12 months.
Earlier this week, Raj backed India to move on from Kaur’s leadership, saying in an interview with PTI that “this is the time” for change, and the she would back younger players like Jemimah Rodrigues or Smriti Mandhana to take over the leadership. She also cited the proximity of the 2025 Women’s World Cup, which will take place in September, as reason for making the change now rather than later.
However, Kaur was named as captain of the 16-player squad for India’s series against New Zealand at the end of the month. India will play three ODIs from October 24 to October 29, all in Ahmedabad. While the group is a mainly first choice side, Richa Ghosh will not feature in the series due to educational commitments, with Asha Sobhana out injured and Pooja Vastrakar rested.
India’s squad for New Zealand ODIs: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, D Hemalatha, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Uma Chetry (wk), Sayali Satghare, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh Thakur, Tejal Hasabnis, Saima Thakor, Priya Mishra, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil.
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