Gayakwad replaces Ekta in India women squad

NEW DELHI: Left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad has been roped in to India’s squad as replacement for the injured Ekta Bisht for the upcoming tri-series at home, involving England and Australia.

Bisht - also a left-arm spinner - injured her left index finger during the third ODI against Australia in Vadodara on March 18, and has been advised 10 days rest.Gayakwad was initially left out as India had recalled Bisht for the tri-nation tournament, after the latter was dropped for the five-match T20I series in South Africa in February this year. She will now make way for Gayakwad, whose previous T20I appearance came in the same tour of South Africa, where she picked four wickets in three games.

The tri-series kicks off on March 22(Thursday), with India and Australia facing off at the Brabourne stadium.India Women’s T20I squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana, Mithali Raj, Veda Krishnamurthy, Jemimah Rodrigues, Anuja Patil, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Poonam Yadav, Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Rumeli Dhar, Mona Meshram, Rajeshwari Gayakwad.