India batter Shafali Verma was dropped from India’s 16-member women’s team for the 3-match ODI series in Australia following a string of poor performances. It seems that the selectors have again lost patience with the 20-year-old, who has especially struggled in one-day cricket in recent times.
Shafali has scored just 108 runs in six matches this year with 33 being the highest. She was also dropped last December midway during the home ODI series against Australia on the basis of her poor run of form.
Shafali broke into India’s ODI team back in 2021, however her last half-century in the format came against Sri Lanka in July 2022 when she scored an unbeaten 71 in Pallekele.
The likes of Uma Chetry, Dayalan Hemalatha, Shreyanka Patil and Sayali Satghare were also left out of the squad for the Australia series despite featuring in India’s 2-1 series triumph against New Zealand last month.
The first 2 ODIs of the Australia series will be played at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane on December 5 and 8 before the action shifts to WACA Ground, Perth on December 11 for the final match of the series.
India’s squad for three-match ODI series: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana, Priya Punia, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Yastika Bhatia (WK), Richa Ghosh (WK), Tejal Hasabnis, Deepti Sharma, Minnu Mani, Priya Mishra, Radha Yadav, Titas Sadhu, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh Thakur, Saima Thakor