India names 14-member squad for 2017 Women's World Cup Qualifiers

The India team management has named a 14-member squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers to be played in Sri Lanka from the 7th of February to the 21st of February. For this, the Indians have axed 25-year-old Nagpur pacer Mona Meshram.

Sushma Verma will travel as the only wicketkeeper in the side with the Indians opting not to go ahead with a backup or a second choice custodian. The management has also retained Sukanya Parida and Devika Vaidya who had made their debuts in the recently-concluded series against the West Indies at Vijaywada.

The Indians missed out on the automatic qualification for the World Cup after having finished fifth in the standings at the end of the year. This comes despite the fact that they completed a clean sweep against the Windies in the three-match bilateral series.

They finished fifth in the eight-team competition with 19 points after their sixth round unplayed games against Pakistan were considered forfeited and all six points awarded to Pakistan.

The 2017 Women’s World Cup will be an eight-team affair that will be played in England later this year. The first four teams that are the most highly ranked teams at the end of the year are granted automatic qualification to the side while the rest of the 7 teams will play a qualifier wherein four of these sides will eventually join up with the others and board the flight to England.

The Indians find themselves in a relatively easy group for the qualifiers alongside hosts Sri Lanka, Ireland, Zimbabwe, and Thailand.

India Squad:

Mithali Raj (Captain), Hamrnapreet Kaur (Vice-captain), Smriti Mandhana, Veda Krishnamurthy, MD Thirushkamini, Devika Vaidya, Sushma Verma (Wicketkeeper), Jhulan Goswami, Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey, Sukanya Parida, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Rajeshwari Gayakwad.