Newcomers in focus as India Women gear up for Aussie ODI challenge

While one senior Indian cricket team is busy preparing for a pink ball challenge in a marquee five-Test series, the other is also gearing up for a big challenge Down Under. Harmanpreet Kaur and her women’s team are up against the Australians for a three-match ODI series in Brisbane and Perth. 

While the Indian women defeated New Zealand 2-1 at home in an ODI series played against a Kiwi side that was hungover from their historic victory in the T20 World Cup just a few days ago, the game for the upcoming ODI World Cup in India in 2025 is surely afoot now. The Women in Blue are facing West Indies and Ireland in the next month (at home) right after this series in Australia, and there’s no time to sit still. 

India’s planning and execution had obvious flaws in the T20 World Cup, and Harmanpreet and coach Amol Muzumdar have to use this series against the best ODI team in the world to not only build towards the tournament but also test their strengths and weaknesses in challenging conditions. Some different combinations will be tried out, as the Indian team haven’t zeroed in on a template for the ODI World Cup yet. 

So there’s a lot to look forward to in this upcoming series. Let’s begin from the top. 

Priya Punia’s golden opportunity

Shafali Verma’s axing is the biggest news as the ODI series starts, and Priya Punia, as her replacement, will be under constant scrutiny in this series, especially now that Shafali has begun the Senior Women’s ODI Trophy for Haryana, scoring 139 off 98 against Uttar Pradesh on (December 4). 

Punia struggled in the two List A outings she had against Australia A in August when she toured there along with the India A side. While her strike rate and boundary scoring have undoubtedly improved after she was dropped from the Indian team a few years ago, consistency is something that India would seek from her because that was the reason behind Shafali’s axing. 

Skipper Harmanpreet has already sent her best wishes to Shafali so that she can keep performing in the domestic circuit and make her come back. With another opening option, Uma Chetry, already being in the squad, it’s upto Punia now to ensure that Smriti Mandhana has a new opening partner come the 2025 ODI World Cup. 

How will the newcomers fare? 

Tejal Hasabnis was on the same India A tour as Punia. However, her returns were starkly opposite in the List A games. She scored 166 runs in three games, only behind Raghvi Bist (who was unlucky to miss selection for the New Zealand series and this one), and was the spine of India’s middle order. 

She performed a similar role against New Zealand at home as well, scoring 42(64) in her first game. India would expect her to continue the same, because the middle order has been guilty of not batting long enough to create an impact. With Hasabnis performing, India won’t be reliant on just Mandhana, Harmanpreet and Jemimah Rodrigues to hold the batting order. 

Saima Thakor is another new candidate who’ll be interesting to follow during the series. She’s coming off a decent spell during the New Zealand series (4 wickets at 32) and has won the domestic T20 competition with the Mumbai side. She is one of those fiesty fast bowlers who’ll not shy away from bending their back and bowling bouncers to send the batters on their backfoot. If she performs well here, she has a good chance of attending the ODI World Cup as a core member of India’s fast bowling group. 

Leg spinner Priya Mishra didn’t get much chance to show what she’s capable of when she toured with the India A team here in August. However, she picked up 5/14 in the only match she played, which also happened to be the only game that India A won on that tour. On that tour, she even took six wickets across the two innings of the red ball game. It would certainly be an inspired selection if India decide to field her in the first ODI itself, but it won’t be a bad call at all. India need a leggie in their bowling lineup. 

Titas Sadhu, meanwhile, is returning after a long injury, and it would be interesting to see if she’s the same bowler who impressed everyone with her control of the ball and the movement she extracted. 

How are Australia shaping up? 

The Aussies don’t have their regular skipper, Alyssa Healy, with them, as she’s still recovering from her knee injury. It would be Tahlia McGrath again who would come in as her deputy. She was also the skipper of Australia A when India A toured, so she’s also familiar with what the Indian youngsters can do.

Meanwhile, Georgia Voll, who’s coming off after a superb season in the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL), will open the batting with Phoebe Litchfield. The 21-year-old Litchfield is the biggest rising star of the side and a potential long-term leader. Last time when she played against India in ODIs, she scored 260 runs in three innings with two centuries. So, getting the openers would be really crucial for the Indian new ball bowlers. 

Australia haven’t played an ODI since March though, and would need to chalk out their template as well. However, they won’t be much stressed. There’s a reason they have lost only one of their last 26 ODI series, and they need to be clinical yet again. 

The main question would hence revolve around the Indian team's plans and how they are going to use the resources at their disposal to negotiate with a near-invincible Australian team, who have won nine of their last 10 ODIs against India. 

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