Jemimah Rodrigues returns to India's squad after lengthy layoff
What's the story
India have announced their squad for the upcoming South Africa tour, including a Women's Test match, three Women's ODIs, and three Women's T20Is. The highlight of the announcement is star batter Jemimah Rodrigues's return. Rodrigues, India's mainstay batter across formats, was out of action since August due to a hamstring tear suffered during the Women's Hundred tournament.
Comeback
Rodrigues returns after a lengthy injury layoff
Rodrigues's injury forced her to miss the rest of the Women's Hundred tournament, the Women's Asia Cup, the Asian Games, and the white-ball series against Zimbabwe.
Her last appearance for India was in a one-off Test against England at Lord's in July.
Rodrigues, India's pivotal middle-order batter, has played 62 WODIs, 131 WT20Is, and five WTests.
Team composition
Pratika Rawal, Jintimani Kalita added to Test squad
Along with Rodrigues, Pratika Rawal also returns to the Test squad after missing the historic Lord's fixture due to a knee injury.
Uncapped Jintimani Kalita has been added to the Test squad. She is a 22-year-old right-arm pacer from Assam who made her WODI debut in the recent series against Zimbabwe.
Developments
Other notable developments
Smriti Mandhana, who recently took over from Harmanpreet Kaur, will lead India in the one-off Test against South Africa.
This will mark her first overseas assignment as India's captain.
Despite Rodrigues's return making a comeback, she was not given vice-captaincy duties in any format.
While Renuka Singh returns to the WT20I squad, she hasn't found a place in the WTest and WODI squads.
Information
India's WTest squad
WTest Squad: Smriti Mandhana (captain), Shafali Verma, Pratika Rawal, Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Richa Ghosh, Yastika Bhatia, Deepti Sharma (vice-captain), Sree Charani, Sneh Rana, Kranti Gaud, Nandni Sharma, Jintimani Kalita, and Sayali Satghare.
Squads
India's WODI and WT20I squads
WODI squad: Smriti Mandhana (captain), Shafali Verma, Pratika Rawal, Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Richa Ghosh, Yastika Bhatia, Deepti Sharma (vice-captain), Sree Charani, Vaishnavi Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Nandni Sharma, Jintimani Kalita, and Sayali Satghare.
WT20I squad: Smriti Mandhana (captain), Shafali Verma (vice-captain), Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur, Niki Prasad, Richa Ghosh, G. Kamalini, Anushka Sharma, Deepti Sharma, Sree Charani, Prema Rawat, Amanjot Kaur, Kranti Gaud, Nandni Sharma, Renuka Singh Thakur, Arundhati Reddy, and Sayali Satghare.