"She's not dropped" - Harmanpreet Kaur on Shikha Pandey's exclusion

Shikha Pandey's exclusion from the Indian Women's squad for the upcoming white-ball series against South Africa Women raised many eyebrows.

However, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur has clarified that the team management has not dropped Pandey. Instead, she's been allowed to rest for an extended period while the team tries out other players in the meantime.

In a virtual press conference ahead of India Women's first ODI against South Africa Women in Lucknow, Harmanpreet Kaur spoke at length about the team management's decision to exclude Shikha Pandey.

"I know it was a very tough call, but sometimes you need to give chance to other players. She's (Shikha Pandey) not dropped; we are just giving rest to a few players and we just want to try other players. I know we are playing after a long time and we wanted to go with the same combination. But, at the same time, when you haven't played too much cricket, sometimes you need to take some chances and try to give a chance to other players," said Harmanpreet Kaur.

The Indian women's cricket team has not played an international game after the T20 World Cup last year. Shikha Pandey was the team's second most successful bowler in that tournament, with seven wickets in five matches.

However, the selectors did not name her in the ODI and T20I squads for South Africa series.

Harmanpreet Kaur explains why the selectors preferred new players over Shikha Pandey for the South Africa series

Shikha Pandey is a veteran of 102 white-ball matches.

Harmanpreet Kaur added that the Indian team management wished to try out other players because multiple global tournaments will take place in the next few years. Mansi Joshi has returned to Team India after a considerable time off the field, while uncapped left-arm pacer Monica Patel is also present in the squad.

"I hope after this tournament (series against South Africa), we'll be able to set our combination because the next two-three years we have a lot of cricket coming up. And that's the reason they (the selectors) are just giving chances to a few other players," Harmanpreet Kaur added.

It will be interesting to see how the Jhulan Goswami-led pace attack performs in Shikha Pandey's absence.