Indian women's squad for Australia series announced

India Women beat hosts South Africa in the ODI and the T20 series recently

What's the story?

The BCCI has announced the Indian women's squad for the upcoming three-match home ODI series against Australia. The team of fifteen members will be led by Mithali Raj, who had also led the side to the Women's World Cup final in England last year.

In case you didn't know..

The team has just returned from South Africa, beating the hosts in both the ODI as well as the T20 series. The three-match ODI series went 2-1 in favour of the visitors, while the five-game T20 series was also won by India, by a 3-1 margin, with one match getting washed out.

The heart of the matter

The Australian women's tour to India will include 3 ODIs, all of which will be played at the Reliance Stadium in Vadodara from March 12-18, following which a T20 tri-series will be held, with England being the third participant. The tri-series will have two round robin matches followed by the final, with the entire series to be hosted by the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai from March 22-31.

Jhulan Goswami, who injured her heel recently, has been ruled out of the tournament. Sukanya Parida, the 24-year-old all-rounder, has been drafted into the side, for the first time since November 2016.

India Women's squad for Australia series: Mithali Raj (c), Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Punam Raut, Jemimah Rodrigues, Veda Krishnamurthy, Mona Meshram, Sushma Verma (wk), Ekta Bisht, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shikha Pandey, Sukanya Parida, Pooja Vastrakar and Deepti Sharma

India Women vs Australia Women ODI series fixtures (All matches at Reliance Stadium, Vadodara):

First ODI, March 12

Second ODI, March 15

Third ODI, March 18

T20 tri-series fixtures (All matches at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai):

First T20: India vs Australia, March 22

First T20: England vs Australia, March 23

First T20: India vs England, March 25

First T20: India vs Australia, March 26

First T20: England vs Australia, March 28

First T20: India vs England, March 29

Final: TBD, March 31