Renuka Singh, Meghna Singh, Yastika Bhatia break into India’s World Cup squad

Experienced fast bowler Shikha Pandey has been left out of India’s squad for the upcoming Women’s World Cup in New Zealand in March. The 32-year old last played an ODI in July. She was also part of the Australia tour that followed in September, but the emergence of Meghna Singh and Renuka Singh appears to have pushed the senior player out of contention. Similarly, 21-year old Yastika Bhatia made such a strong impression Down Under that she has effectively replaced Jemimah Rodrigues in the team.

India’s fast bowling was a massive talking point when they visited Australia last year. They excelled in the only Test of that tour to the point that Alyssa Healy conceded that they “showed us what we couldn’t quite do with the new ball‘”. Meghna Singh was a key component in that attack. She opened the bowling with Jhulan Goswami – a combination that might be on show again when India open their World Cup campaign against Pakistan on March 6 – and picked up 2 for 56 from 19 overs. Her ability to swing the ball away from right-handers came in for particular praise.

Renuka Singh has never played one-day internationals before but her work in combination with Goswami, Meghna and Pooja Vastrakar during the T20Is against the world champions last year came in for strong praise. “It was amazing to watch our bowlers dominate the Australian batters, so for me that was the biggest positive,” Smriti Mandhana said.