Harmanpreet keeps the captaincy as India name their Women’s Asia Cup squad

Harmanpreet Kaur will lead India at the Women’s Asia Cup. The selection committee chaired by Amita Sharma named a 15-player squad on Sunday with Smriti Mandhana again as vice-captain, ending the speculation about whether Harmanpreet would carry on. India did not reach the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup in June, going out after Australia chased down 171 against them with an over to spare, and captains have lost jobs for less.

The squad

India’s 15: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Bharti Fulmali, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wicketkeeper), G Kamalini (wicketkeeper), Arundhati Reddy, Prema Rawat, Radha Yadav, Sree Charani, Renuka Thakur, Nandni Sharma and Kranti Gaud.

Five reserves travel with them: Pratika Rawal, Uma Chetry (wicketkeeper), Vaishnavi Sharma, Sayali Satghare and Minnu Mani.

Continuity, not surgery

Anyone expecting a clear-out after the World Cup will not find one here. This is very close to the squad India named for the Asian Games at the end of June, and the batting order picks itself: Mandhana and Shafali at the top, Jemimah and Harmanpreet through the middle, Richa Ghosh with the gloves and the licence to hit.

The one change worth noting is that Shreyanka Patil, who was in the Asian Games squad subject to fitness, does not appear in this one. Prema Rawat does. Rawat’s route into this group has been unusual: she was called into the T20 World Cup squad in June as Patil’s injury replacement, and she has now kept the shirt on merit rather than on somebody else’s misfortune.

G Kamalini’s inclusion as a second wicketkeeper alongside Richa Ghosh is the other thing to watch. Counting Uma Chetry among the reserves, India are taking three keepers to a short tournament, which is not what a settled gloves position looks like.

Pratika Rawal is only a reserve

The name that stands out on the reserve list is Pratika Rawal, who has opened the batting for India and was replaced by Priya Punia for the Lord’s Test in July after picking up an injury. Being named among the standbys rather than the 15 is a real demotion for an opener with her recent record, and it is the closest thing to a selection statement in this announcement.

Naming five standbys rather than the usual handful of names on a list suggests a board planning for the tournament to cost them somebody, which recent months would justify.

India go in as challengers, which is new

India have won the Women’s Asia Cup seven times, which is most of them, and they are not the holders. Sri Lanka took the 2024 final in Dambulla, beating India by eight wickets for their first title, with Chamari Athapaththu and Harshitha Samarawickrama seeing the chase through and Harmanpreet out for 11 in the innings before it.

Both of those players batted again on Sunday, an hour or so before this squad was announced, as Sri Lanka sealed a T20I series win over Pakistan on that same Dambulla ground. Whatever else India meet at this tournament, the side that beat them in the last final is in form.

The Asian Cricket Council has not yet confirmed the full schedule. What India know is who is going, and that the captain who was there for the last final is the one taking them back to it.

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