The four quicks who played in the white-ball matches were Renuka Singh, Titas Sadhu and the allrounders Pooja Vastrakar and Amanjot Kaur. For the Tests India also had Meghna Singh in the squad but she didn’t get to play either of the games. India may feel a lightness in their pace attack since Jhulan Goswami retired in 2022. They also appear to have moved on from the experienced Shikha Pandey. who made a brief comeback in T20Is in early 2023 but hasn’t played any of their recent games.
“Sajana’s six gives you an idea of the depth in Indian cricket,” he said.
“I organised a match at the NCA here at the Chinnaswamy Stadium,” he said. “It was a four-day warm-up match and she (Shubha) did very well there – she scored 99 and 50. She’s a left-hander and bats well at No. 3. After seeing her in the nets I had decided to bat her at No. 3. Not many players had seen her at the time.
“I’ll thank Harman (India captain Harmanpreet Kaur) because she agreed for the call immediately.”
Muzumdar added that India had held a camp before their two most recent assignments, with particular focus on the fitness and fielding. “In the first meeting before the England and Australia series we had cleared that fitness and fielding are non-negotiable. Every player is working towards it, it’s not just talk. There’s clear thinking and planning behind it.”
“There is an upscale movement in India’s batters,” he said. “The confidence from those two series against England and Australia is on display because of how they performed there.”