India's women's squad for the three-match One-Day International (ODI) cricket series against South Africa was announced on Wednesday. India will play three ODIs against South Africa as part of the ICC Women's Championship (2017-2020) in February.
While Indian women's team is set to fly to South Africa, India men's cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar met the team before their tour.
In a tweet, Tendulkar wished the team luck for their tour and shared pictures with the enthusiastic athletes. He wrote, “It was really great meeting you all. My best wishes to the entire team for the ODI and T20 series in South Africa.”
It was really great meeting you all. My best wishes to the entire team for the ODI and T20 series in South Africa. pic.twitter.com/4O90QBUrf5
— sachin tendulkar (@sachin_rt) January 22, 2018
BCCI Women also shared a number of pictures of the Cricket God and the team with the caption, “When @sachin_rt speaks you listen, learn & also have fun. The Master spent time with the Indian Women’s Team in Mumbai ahead of their Tour to South Africa.”
When @sachin_rt speaks you listen, learn & also have fun. The Master spent time with the Indian Women’s Team in Mumbai ahead of their Tour to South Africa. pic.twitter.com/wZA6fA2QlS
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) January 22, 2018
The ODI series will be followed by a five-match T20I series and the squad for the same will be named later.
The Indian team last played an international match way back in July 2017 in the World Cup. India lost to England in the finals by 9 runs. Also, India's last ODI against South Africa was in the same tournament and they were defeated by a huge margin of 115 runs.
India Squad: Mithali Raj (Captain), Harmanpreet Kaur (vice-captain), Sushma Verma (wicket-keeper), Ekta Bisht, Smriti Mandhana, Poonam Yadav, Punam Raut, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Jemimah Rodrigues, Jhulan Goswami, Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey, Mona Meshram, Pooja Vastrakar, Veda Krishnamurthy, Taniya Bhatia (wicket-keeper).