Smriti Mandhana deemed fit for the third ODI; Hayley Matthews set to mark her comeback

India women’s cricket team is currently on Caribbean tour for three-match ODI and five-match T20I series. All the ODI games are being played at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, North Sound, Antigua. The first two T20I games will be played in St. Lucia and the final three games to be played in Guyana.

India couldn’t start the tour in an expected way as they lost the first ODI by one run. It was a close contest between both the sides where the visiting team collapsed from 170/2 to 224/10 to give West Indies women a one-run victory. However, the visitors bounced back to earn a 53-run win in the 2nd ODI. The upcoming third ODI will serve as the series decider for both the sides.

Smriti Mandhana and Hayley Matthews set to be back

For Team India, it will be a big relief as their opener Smriti Mandhana has been deemed fit for the decider. She picked up a toe fracture last month during a net session in the South Africa series and was on the sidelines since then. If Smriti Mandhana makes it to the XI, the in-form opener Priya Punia has to be benched.

There’s also a welcome relief for the hosts as their vice-captain Hayley Matthews is all set to mark her comeback in the 3rd ODI. He served her eight-match across-formats suspension for an undisclosed breach of Cricket West Indies Player Code of Conduct.

With ICC women’s championship underway, both the teams will straightaway bring both the comeback players into their respective XIs. In the championship, Australia is currently leading the points table with England and India taking the next two spots. West Indies is currently at the 7th position.

Squads:

West Indies women: Shemaine Campbelle (wk), Kyshona Knight, Anisa Mohammed, Stafanie Taylor (c), Natasha McLean, Stacy-Ann King, Afy Fletcher, Chedean Nation, Sheneta Grimmond, Shabika Gajnabi, Aaliyah Alleyne, Hayley Matthews, Britney Cooper, Shawnisha Hector

India women: Mithali Raj (c), Jhulan Goswami, Harmanpreet Kaur, Punam Raut, Shikha Pandey, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Priya Punia, Ekta Bisht, Smriti Mandhana, Sushma Verma, Mansi Joshi, D Hemalatha