Richa Ghosh named for Australia series

SILIGURI-born RICHA Ghosh alongside Seam bowlers Meghna Singh and Renuka Singh Thakur has been named for playing the Women’s cricket series in Australia by BCCI. While Meghna Singh and Renuka Singh Thakur will be debutants in international cricket, Richa, who will turn 18 on September 28, 2021, was earlier named in India’s squad for the 2020 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.  On 12 February 2020, she made her WT20I debut for India, against Australia in the final of the tri-series. In May 2021, she was awarded a central contract for the first time. Meghna Singh,27, and Renuka Singh Thakur,25, have been handed maiden India call-ups. Left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad has also returned for the upcoming one-off Test and limited over series against Australia. The Indian team will play three ODIs, a Day-Night Test and three T20Is, beginning next month. The Selectors were impressed by right-arm medium pacer Meghna after she had taken five wickets for Railways and Renuka grabbed nine wickets for Himachal Pradesh in the recent senior one-day tournament. Left-handed batswoman Yastika Bhatia also found a place in all three squads. The Indian players have been training in Bengaluru for the upcoming tour. The team will have to undergo a 14-day quarantine upon arrival in Australia before they take on the hosts in the first ODI. One-off Test & ODI squads: Mithali Raj (C), Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Punam Raut, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Yastika Bhatia, Taniya Bhatia (WK), Shikha Pandey, Jhulan Goswami, Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Richa Ghosh, Ekta Bisht.T20I squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Yastika Bhatia, Shikha Pandey, Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Richa Ghosh (WK). Experienced spinner Rajeshwari, who was part of the South Africa series, was not considered for England tour as she was recovering from a knee injury and had also suffered a bout of Covid-19.K), Harleen Deol, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Renuka Singh Thakur.  It may be recalled Richa, 5’5’’, who started playing cricket at the age of 5 and made her international debut at 16, was born in a Bengali family. Her father Manabendra Ghosh is a cricket umpire & mother Swapna Ghosh is a homemaker.   She had played for Bengal Under 19s as an 11-year- old girl and also for her home state   Under 23s one year later. Edited by PKC. Picture courtesy: ESPNcriciinfo.