On Saturday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India announced the 15-player squad, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, for the upcoming Women's T20 World Cup in England. Even though the squad was along expected lines, the selectors have named three changes - most notably, the inclusion of the uncapped Nandni Sharma to go with the recall of Yastika Bhatia and Radha Yadav.
Here are some of the key talking points from the team selection:
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Could that be possible when the stakes are high? Quite possible.
The Indian selectors hedged their bets on Nandni Sharma, the uncapped 24-year old pacer, for a place in the national team for the World Cup. Nandni, with the ability to swing the ball, generate bounce and deceptive slower deliveries, can bowl in all phases of play. Most importantly, despite her international inexperience, she displayed the ability to withstand the pressure of death-over bowling against world-class players in her maiden season of Women's Premier League, where she emerged as the joint-highest wicket-taker, with 17 scalps in 10 matches. It is this skill which could be most useful for the team if they do accommodate her in the XI.
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With Amanjot Kaur and Kashvee Gautam recovering from injuries, and no updates provided on Pooja Vastrakar, India have a vital missing cog in the line-up, especially for English conditions: the absence of a quality seam-bowling all-rounder. While Arundhati Reddy has improved as a batter, she hasn't quite shown the signs of that - certainly not with the expected consistency - at the international matches or in the WPL, Nonetheless, she would be expected to fill in that role in the hope that she can translate her domestic success at the higher levels.
What the absence of all-rounders has done is allow India to strengthen its bowling reserves, something that the chief selector believes was what let the team down in the recent South Africa series.
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Yastika Bhatia, the 25-year-old wicketkeeper-batter, has been in and out of the Indian side for nearly five years. Blighted by injuries, she has featured in only 19 T20Is, with her last appearance for the national team coming nearly two years ago. She missed out this season's WPL as she was recovering after undergoing an ACL operation in October last year, and hasn't played competitive cricket since injuring herself in September 2025. She is unlikely to find a place in the XI, but her inclusion, in place of Uma Chetry, strengthens the back-up wicketkeeping option, to go with a reserve opener.
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From being the top-ranked bowler in T20Is in 2021, Radha Yadav's returns as a left-arm spinner have dipped quite significantly over the years. As a result, she hasn't featured in India's T20I side since July 2025. Nonetheless, during this period, her batting has witnessed a significant graduation, making her a fine all-round option, to go with her electric fielding.
Even though she has played in the middle order for her state team for nearly a decade, the mark of her improvement as a batter was most notably visible in Royal Challengers Bengaluru's victorious campaign in WPL 2026, where she amassed 114 runs at a strike rate of 140.74, often batting as high as No. 5. Among her other contributions with the bat, she even stroked a 66 for which she was awarded Player of the Match.
Radha's inclusion provides India a versatile back-up option to balance the XI, if needed, especially in case Reddy is unable to shoulder the burden as a batter.
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Bharti Fulmali has enjoyed a resurgence as a batter in the last couple of seasons, backing up her exploits for Vidarbha in the Women's T20 Trophy, with her destructive game in the WPL - striking at 172.72 and 146.91 respectively in the last two seasons.
Her performances earned her a recall to the national team. But in three outings in South Africa, there was only one inning of note - a 30-ball 40 as India fell short in the run chase of 156. Nonetheless, the Indian selectors have backed her for her ability to pump in the big sixes in the lower middle order. She's unlikely to find a place in the XI, unless India stick to only five frontline bowling options.
