Kashvee gets maiden call-up, regulars return for ODI tri-series in Sri Lanka

Kashvee Gautam, N Shree Charani and Shuchi Upadhyay have been handed their maiden national call-ups in a much changed India ODI squad for the upcoming tri-series in Sri Lanka, where South Africa are the third team.

Harmanpreet Kaur is back as the captain after sitting out the previous series, against Ireland at home in January, while Sneh Rana, Yastika Bhatia, Arundhati Reddy and Amanjot Kaur have all come back. Renuka Singh, Pooja Vastrakar and Titas Sadhu, the fast bowlers, are both injured and were not considered for selection.

Shafali Verma, meanwhile, continued to be out of the picture despite a strong showing at the Women's Premier League (WPL) earlier this year, when she scored 304 runs from nine innings (fourth on the table for highest run-scorers) with a strike rate of 152.76.

When India hosted Ireland, and swept the series 3-0 with comprehensive wins in all three games, Smriti Mandhana was India's captain. That squad also had Uma Chetry, Raghvi Bist, Sayali Satghare, Tanuja Kanwar, Minnu Mani, Priya Mishra and Saima Thakor, who have all been left out.

Gautam, 21, was one of the star performers at the WPL this year, picking up 11 wickets - the most by an Indian - in nine games and impressive with her control. Twenty-year-old Charani, a left-arm spinner, played just two games in the WPL, for Delhi Capitals (DC), picking up four wickets. Left-arm spinner Upadhyay, meanwhile, was the third-highest wicket-taker at the Senior Women's One-Day Trophy held in December last year. She picked up 18 wickets then at an economy rate of 3.48 and an average of 15.44 in nine innings. She was named the Player of the Tournament as her team, Madhya Pradesh, won the trophy.

The series is an important one for all three teams keeping in mind the ODI World Cup later in the year - in September-October - in India.

India squad for women's ODI tri-series in Sri Lanka

Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana (vice-capt), Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Yastika Bhatia (wk), Deepti Sharma, Amanjot Kaur, Kashvee Gautam, Sneh Rana, Arundhati Reddy, Tejal Hasabnis, Sree Charani, Shuchi Upadhyay