Gargi Banerjee appointed as the India women’s team manager for Australia series

Former India all-rounder Gargi Banerjee has been named as the team’s manager for India’s all-format tour to Australia. She will now take over from Rajkuvardevi Gaekwad, who was the team manager for the last series against England. Banerjee comes with a strong reputation and experience as she has represented India for 38 matches across both formats. Then the all-rounder also served as a national selector for a long time.

Currently, the 60-year-old is part of the Cricket Association of Bengal Apex Council and will join the Indian team in Bengaluru soon. Apart from the appointment of Banerjee, the Indian women’s team is also going to replace fielding coach Abhay Sharma.

If the reports in ESPNcricinfo are to be believed, then Sharma won’t be in charge of the team during the Australia tour. Subhadeep Ghosh will likely travel with the team as the fielding coach. Ghosh has represented Railways and Assam and comes with a good exposure under his belt. Incumbent batting coach Shiv Sunder Das has managed to retain held on to the post for time being.

Interestingly, Indian batters struggled against the quality bowling of England especially in the ODIs and T20Is. But with a short game between two tours, Das can work with the team and hope for better performance from the batters Down Under.

India are likely to announce the squad this week and the core group during the England series is likely to be the same.

India women set to play their first pink-ball Test match

The team will depart to Australia on August 29 and will undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine in Australia. First up the teams will play three ODIs which will begin on September 19 at North Sydney Oval. After that, the teams will travel at the Junction Oval to play the remaining two ODIs on September 22 and 24.

Then the team will play a one-off historic pink-ball Test in Perth. This is the first time the women in blue will feature in the historic day-night Test match starting on September 30. Australia played its first during the 2017 Ashes. After the one-off Test, Australia and India will feature in three T20Is starting from October 7.