BCCI appoints All India Women's selection committee; Neetu David to be the chief selector

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Saturday announced the appointment of All-India Women’s Selection Committee. The Board had invited applications for the respective positions earlier this year via a press release and a notification on its official website – BCCI.TV

All-India Women’s Selection Committee –

1) Neetu David (10 Tests and 97 WODIs)
2) Arati Vaidya (3 Tests and 6 WODIs)
3) Renu Margrate (5 Tests and 23 WODIs)
4) Venkatacher Kalpana (3 Tests and 8 WODIs)
5) Mithu Mukherjee (4 Tests)

On account of seniority, Neetu David, the former left-arm spinner, will head the five-member committee. She holds the world record for best bowling figures in an innings in a Test for her 8/53 against England Women in the Jamshedpur Test held in 1995. She is also the second-highest wicket-taker for India in WODIs with 141 scalps and was also the first from India to take 100 WODI wickets.

India Women have not played since T20 World Cup final

Meanwhile, India Women’s team hasn’t played any kind of cricket since playing the T20 World Cup final on the International Women’s Day on March 8. Soon after return to India from Australia, lockdown was enforced in most of the countries due to the pandemic. There is no idea when they will play international cricket again as their England tour was cancelled for the same reason.

However, the BCCI has planned to organise Women’s T20 Challenge among three or four teams this year as well and it will be interesting to see how things materialise for the tournament. The newly appointed selection committee is likely to pick the players. At the same time, the tournament is clashing with the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) of Australia which is set to being on October 25.

A lot of big international players are likely to miss out on playing the Women’s T20 Challenge in UAE. However, the BCCI is yet to chalk out any plan or schedule for the competition. But the President of the board Sourav Ganguly has confirmed that the tournament will happen this year.