India's one-off Test against England at the DY Patil Stadium marks the return of red-ball cricket on Indian soil after a long gap of nine years and ushers a new era in Indian women's cricket. The Indian team management has given Test caps to Jemimah Rodrigues, Shubha Satheesh and Renuka Singh Thakur for the Test against England and the trio couldn't manage to hide the ecstasy on their faces.
Head coach Amol Muzumdar handed the debut cap to the Karnataka-born southpaw Satheesh, whereas Renuka and Jemimah received their maiden Test caps from captain Harmanpreet Kaur and vice-captain Smriti Mandhana respectively.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India posted a video of the entire team management congratulating the three players on the momentous occasion. "The grins say it all! Reactions right after Shubha Satheesh, Renuka Singh Thakur & @JemiRodrigues received their #TeamIndia caps respectively from Head Coach Amol Muzumdar, Captain @ImHarmanpreet & vice-captain @mandhana_smriti," posted BCCI on X.
While both Jemimah and Renuka have plenty of experience when it comes to playing for the Women in Blue in the white-ball formats, Satheesh is new to the circuit and is playing in her first-ever game for the country. Notably, Harmanpreet has won the toss and elected to bat first at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Navi Mumbai in Mumbai.
India's playing XI:
Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Shubha Satheesh, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Deepti Sharma, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Sneh Rana, Pooja Vastrakar, Renuka Thakur Singh, Rajeshwari Gayakwad
Bench:
Richa Ghosh, Harleen Deol, Saika Ishaque, Titas Sadhu, Meghna Singh
Support Staff:
Subhadeep Ghosh, Rajib Dutta, Amol Muzumdar, Hrishikesh Kanitkar
England's playing XI:
Tammy Beaumont, Sophia Dunkley, Heather Knight (c), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Danielle Wyatt, Amy Jones (wk), Sophie Ecclestone, Charlotte Dean, Kate Cross, Lauren Filer, Lauren Bell
Bench:
Maia Bouchier, Bess Heath, Alice Capsey, Kirstie Gordon
Support Staff:
Jon Lewis
