On June 18, the feelings were mixed and the
pendulum of emotions of Indian folks was swinging in full force. Cricket
enthusiasts were shattered as the Men in Blue succumbed to arch-rivals Pakistan’s
prolific performance in the final of ICC Champions Trophy. On the other hand,
the Indian Hockey Team and Srikanth Kidambi were the reasons to celebrate, as
the former clinically defeated Pakistan in the semi- final of World hockey
League and the latter emerged victorious in the final match of Indonesian Open.
It seems like the month of June has been an
eventful one for the world of sports. But let me tell you, that it’s still not
over. Picture to abhi baaki hai. The
ICC Women’s World Cup is all set to kick start on June 24 in England and the
Indian women’s cricket team led by Mithali Raj looks focused and determined to
take on any side.
The Women in Blue has a perfect blend of
experience and youth and is believed to flourish under the able aegis of
skipper Raj. The WBBL (Women’s Big Bash League) experience that was played in
Australia early this year, will come in handy for Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti
Mandhana. Opening bat Punam Raut has picked up form at the very right time and
the team will expect a solid start from her. India’s ace pace bowler Jhulan
Goswami will lead the bowling attack and the spin trio of Ekta Bisht, Poonam Yadav
and Rajeshwari Gayakwad will look to make the most of the opportunity.
India will take on hosts on June 24 at County Ground, Derby.
India squad: Mithali Raj (captain), Harmanpreet Kaur,
Veda Krishnamurthy, Mona Meshram, Punam Raut, Deepti Sharma, Jhulan Goswami,
Shikha Pandey, Ekta Bisht, Sushma Verma, Mansi Joshi, Rajeshwari Gayakwad,
Poonam Yadav, Nuzhat Parveen, Smriti Mandhana.
Source: Cricket Country
