Veteran seamer Jhulan Goswami was named in the Indian women's team for the T20 tri-series involving Australia and England with Harmanpreet Kaur back as the leader.
India captain Virat Kohli's phenomenal batting form fetched him the BCCI's best cricketer award for two seasons, while World Cup stars Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana were chosen for the women's equivalent of the honour.
History beckons the Indian women's cricket team when it takes on England in the ICC World Cup final in London on Sunday, aiming to cap a fairytale run with a maiden title triumph and put some past demons to rest.
A historic series triumph already sealed, the Indian women's cricket team faltered in its quest for a clean-sweep as it went down by 15 runs to Australia in the third and final Twenty20 International following a spectacular batting collapse in Sydney on Sunday. Chasing a victory target of 137, the Indians, who pocketed the series after winning the first two games, were comfortably placed at 94 for 3 in 13.3 overs before a middle-order collapse led them to end at 121 for 8 at the SCG. The Indians scored just 27 runs from the last 6.3 overs and lost five wickets in the process to hand Australia a consolation win.
This is clearly a new India, one that displays temerity in plenty, and backs up intent with performance.
The celebrations after the 2017 World Cup went on for the next few months. But there was one question that the Indian cricketers failed to respond to in their interviews. 'What was their next assignment?' Nobody knew; the players were waiting for the BCCI to tell them. The BCCI, with barely any time from its endless legal tangles, had nothing in mind immediately. The likes of Australia and England were back on the field, battling it out in the Ashes in front of sizeable crowds. But for Mithali Raj and team, there was no road ahead.
On a day (Tuesday) when India's much-followed men's team succumbed to a humiliating defeat against New Zealand, the women's team won their opening encounter of 2016 ICC World T20 by a comprehensive 76-run margin against Bangladesh. In a chat with BCCI.TV ahead of India's World Twenty20 campaign, the captain of India's women's team and star batsman Mithali Raj spoke about the team's journey and analysed her team's strengths for the tournament.
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