ENG W vs IND W | One-off Test: Know India Women's possible playing XI

The Indian Women’s team led by Mithali Raj would be playing its first Test in eight years when it takes on England Women in a one-off Test in Bristol starting Wednesday, June 16. When India last played a Test match in England, it was in 2014 and on this tour, they have seven players who were part of the historic win seven years ago in Taunton. 

As things stand, among those seven players, most likely one would miss out. The selection of the playing XI is going to crucial keeping in mind the English condition. OneCricket tried coming out with the best possible India Women XI for the Test at Bristol. 

Openers: Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma

The Indian Women would look to go with the tried tested Smriti Mandhan as the opening batter. But alongside her, sending Shafali Verma could turn out to be a great move considering that she is free-flowing in her approach and can dampen the English pace attack very early. 

In English conditions, sending Verma might be a tricky choice given that she has not even played an ODI let alone red-ball cricket. But that is the risk that India can take as they have the luxury of experienced Middle order and Smriti at the top as well who can do damage control if Verma falls cheaply. But if Verma does fore as is expected of her, it would give India Women the much-needed advantage. 

The 24-year-old Mandhana though has experience of both ODI and red-ball cricket as well. Although she hasn’t had much success in three Test innings but has 4000 international runs behind her to give her confidence in England. 

Middle Order: Punam Raut, Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma

Once the foundation is set by the two openers, then the experienced middle-order consisting of skipper Mithali with her more than 10000 international runs which include 663 Test runs, Test centurion Punam Raut and explosive Harmanpreet Kaur can join the party. 

While the 38-year-old skipper has a double hundred to boast of and an average of more than 50, Kaur and Raut are also more than capable of enough of getting the game moving. In fact, Raut’s comeback to the Indian team was on the back of her performances in Days game at domestic level and then the Test hundred against South Africa Women in 2014. 

Harmanpreet is already pumped ahead of the game as she said in the pre-match press conference that she is looking to emulate the team’s victory in 2014. An explosive batter, she and Deepti also provide bowling options. Deepti is actually the fifth bowler in the squad having already picked up 119 international wickets in 109 international appearances. Yet to play a Test match, the 23-year-old Bengal player is already an Arjuna Awardee. 

Wicket Keeper: Indrani Roy

This Bengal born Jharkhand player received her maiden call up to the national team on the back of a brilliant outing in the Senior Women’s National ODI Trophy in March- April this year. She is most likely to make her debut for India and that too Test cricket directly as her batting skills overpower those of other selected wicket-keepers, Tania Bhatia and Sushma Verma. 

Originally an opener for her domestic side, the 23-year-old would have to bat down the order in this lineup. She scored 456 runs at an unbelievable average of 76 with two centuries and a fifty. 

Bowlers: Shikha Pandey, Jhulan Goswami, Pooja Vastrakar, Poonam Yadav

With the inclusion of Indrani, the Indian team would have seven pure batters and would thus have a chance to play an extra bowler. In that case and to utilise the English weather and pitch conditions properly, India would most likely go for three fast bowlers in the form of the experienced pair of Jhulan Goswami and Shikha Pandey alongside Madhya Pradesh Express Pooja Vastrakar. 

Jhulan even at 48 can generate enough bounce with the red ball to trouble any batter in the women’s game and Shikha, along with her ability to move the ball, also has a history behind her when she alongside skipper Mithali chased down the English total to seal the win seven years ago. 

Though Vastrakar hasn’t had much success in the six ODIs she has played so far, not being able to pick even a single wicket. But in the 20 T20Is, the 21-year-old has had 16 scalps. She is quick, can bat and most importantly is accurate and that’s why gets into the playing XI ahead of Arundhati Reddy.  

As far as Poonam Yadav being picked over Radha Yadav and Ekta Bisht, both left-arm spinners is concerned, it is mainly because she provides the wrist spin option which would be any day beneficial against the English batters as compared to orthodox spin. 

A case for Jemimah Rodriguez

Jemimah Rodriguez might get a game as well. But not in our XI. Although a gifted batter, who could roll her arm as well, the only place she fits in is opening with Smriti Mandhana. But her recent outings (55 runs in five innings) aren’t in her favour and thus getting a go-ahead of someone as dominating as Verma is a bit difficult. 

Note

India would be targeting a record fourth successive win, which no other team has done so far in Women's Test cricket. Would they be able to do it? We will find out. The match would start at 03:30 pm IST and you can catch all the action along with ball by ball commentary and pre-match discussions from 03:00 pm itself on the OneCricket app and website.