Mithali to lead India in ICC Women's WC qualifiers

Mithali Raj will lead the 14-member Indian squad in the next month's ICC Women's World Cup Qualifiers which brings together 10 sides in their quest to claim the remaining four places in the main event to be held in June next year.

The tournament will run from February 7 to 21 at four Colombo venues and the sides finishing in the top four of the Super Six stage will join defending champion Australia, host England, former winner New Zealand and reigning ICC World Twenty20 champion West Indies in the ICC Women's World Cup 2017 from June 26 to July 23.

Asian champions and former World Cup finalists India leads Group A which also includes Sri Lanka, Ireland, Zimbabwe and Thailand, while South Africa heads Group B which comprises Pakistan, Bangladesh, Scotland and Papua New Guinea (PNG).

Each side will play four matches in the first round, following which the top three sides from each group will progress to the Super Six stage, while also carrying forward points they earn against sides which have progressed to the Super Six stage from their group.

The top four sides from the Super Six stage, in which each side will play three matches against teams from the other group, will complete the eight-team line-up for the ICC Women's World Cup 2017, while the top two sides will battle out for the title in the February 21 final.

The Indian women cricket squad:

Mithali Raj (Capt),Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, MD Thirush Kamini, Veda Krishnamurthy, Devika Vaidya, Sushma Verma (wk), Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Sukanya Parida, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Deepti Sharma.