File photo of Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana
Most big guns of Indian women's cricket, including Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana, were on Saturday rested from the Challenger Trophy which will begin with a clash between the Sneh Rana-led India A and an India B helmed by Taniya Bhatia, on December 4 at Vijayawada.
All the matches will be held in Vijayawada in the four-team tournament which will conclude on December 9. India C will have Shikha Pandey as skipper while Pooja Vastrakar will lead India D. The C and D teams will also have their first match on December 4.
Apart from Mandhana and Shafali, the other big names to miss the event include Harmanpreet Kaur, and Jemimah Rodrigues. All of them featured in the Women's Big Bash League in Australia. While India A, B, and C teams are 15-player squads, India D has 13 members in its squad.
Squads
India A: Sneh Rana (Captain), Shivali Shinde, Lakshmi Yadav, Vrinda Dinesh, Jhansi Lakshmi, Yastika Bhatia, Sushree Dibyadarshani, Mehak Kesar, B. Anusha, S.S. Kalal, Ganga.W, D.D. Kasat, Renuka Singh and Simran Dil Bahadur.
India B: Taniya Bhatia (Captain), Anju Tomar, Riya Chaudhary, Palak Patel, Shubha Satish, Harleen Deol, Humeira Kazi, Chandu V Ram, Rashi Kanojiya, G. Trisha, Soumya Tiwari, Meghna Singh, Sarala Devi, Saima Thakoor and Ramyashri.
India C: Shikha Pandey (Captain), Muskan Malik, Sweta Verma, Shipra Giri, Tarannum Pathan, Arti Devi, Radha Yadav, C. Prathyusha, Anushka Sharma, Kashvee Gautam, Priyanka Garkhede, R.R. Saha, Dhara Gujjar, Priya Punia and Aishwarya.
India D: Pooja Vastrakar (Captain), Amanjot Kaur, Indrani Roy, K. Prathyoosha, S. Meghana, Divya. G, Ayushi Soni, Kanika Ahuja, Keerthi James, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Sanjula Naik, Monica Patel and Ashwini Kumari.
