From Shafali Verma to Indrani Roy - 3 India women players to watch out for on England tour

The squad for the India Women's tour of England sees some additions. Indrani Roy (maiden call-up), Shikha Pandey, Taniya Bhatia and Sneh Rana make a comeback to the side as Mithali Raj & co prepare for a formidable challenge on English soil.

Such is the roster that we can expect most players to get a chance to prove their mettle. The likes of Shafali Verma and Roy are exciting talents and all eyes will be on these players to showcase their potential.

Ahead of the start of the tour, we look at three India women players to keep an eye out for.

---

#1 India women's destructive opener - Shafali Verma

The opener received her maiden ODI and Test call-up on India Women's tour of England, which starts with a one-off Test on June 16 in Bristol followed by three ODIs and as many T20Is.

She heads into the ODI setup after racking up 617 runs from 22 T20Is at an average of 29.38. Her penchant for big scores and her hard-hitting abilities makes her one of those players to watch out for.

---

#2 Indrani Roy

Indrani Roy gets her maiden call-up to the India women side (Credit: Female cricketer)

The wicketkeeper bat from Jharkand made heads turn as she batted her way to becoming the leading run-scorer in the Senior One Day Trophy. She racked up 456 runs at an average of 76 and these numbers resulted in her maiden call-up to the senior India women squad.

According to TOI, Roy hails from Liluah in Howrah district, and was part of Bengal's U-19 team that won the national championship in the 2014-15 season. She played U-19 and U-23 for her home state, later shifting base to Jharkhand in 2018.

---

#3 Shikha Pandey

Pandey brings in the pace and the experience to give the India women an edge on the bowling front. In her seven-year career with the side, she has been a key bowler alongside Jhulan Goswami to form India's pace backbone.

Speaking to Scroll, Pandey shed light on her return to Test cricket.

"I am a huge fan of the multi-day format and Test cricket, as a kid growing up I always thought you wouldn’t be a cricketer unless you’ve donned the whites. I consider myself very fortunate that the year I debuted for India, we were able to play two Test matches. But after that it didn’t really happen, we didn’t play as many matches as we would have liked. There are many players who love the longer format. The year 2020 was not so great in terms of the amount of cricket we played but good things are coming in now with the Indian team playing two Test matches in a year," she said.

Pandey has four wickets in Tests from the two matches she's played. In the ODIs, she's picked up 73 wickets from 52 matches, and has 36 WT20I wickets from 50 games. She will now be the most experienced pacer in the India women's ODI and WT20I setup.