BCCI finally announce women's team for SA series

Veteran pacer Shikha Pandey axed, rookie keeper Shwetha gets maiden call-up.

Veteran India pacer Shikha Pandey was on Saturday dropped from both ODI and T20 squads that will take on South African women in a twin series starting March 7.

While Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur will lead the ODI and T20I teams respectively, wicketkeeper Tanya Bhatia has also been dropped from the squads due to her inept batting performances in recent times.

Rookie keeper-batsman Shwetha Verma, along with the seasoned Sushma Verma, are the two keepers in both formats. Teenage batting sensation Shafali Verma hasn't found a place in the ODI team.

Squads:

For ODI series: Mithali Raj (Captain), Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Punam Raut, Priya Punia, Yastika Bhatia, Harmanpreet Kaur (vice-captain), D. Hemalatha, Deepti Sharma, Sushma Verma (wicket-keeper), Swetha Verma (wicket-keeper), Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Jhulan Goswami, Mansi Joshi, Poonam Yadav, C. Prathyusha, Monica Patel

For T20I series: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Harleen Deol, Sushma Verma (wicket-keeper), Nuzhat Parveen (wicket-keeper), Ayushi Soni, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Mansi Joshi, Monica Patel, C. Prathyusha, Simran Dil Bahadur.