Niki Prasad is India’s U19 Women’s T20 WC skipper and is set to lead a side almost similar to the one that won the Asia Cup.
Niki Prasad will lead almost the same squad that won the recent Under-19 Asia Cup for women at next month’s U-19 World Cup, in Malaysia.
The 15-year-old medium-pacer Nandhana S, who was listed as a stand-by, has been replaced by Vaishnavi S, the lone change to the squad.
The other standby players for the Asia Cup are Ira J and Anadi T, who have taken the places of Hurley Gala, Happy Kumari, G Kavya Sree, and Gayatri Survase.
The U-19 ladies recently defeated Bangladesh by 41 runs in the final to win the Asia Cup in Kuala Lumpur.
While opening the batting with G Kamalini, who had signed a WPL contract with the Mumbai Indians the same day she hit an undefeated 44 off 29 against Pakistan in the Asia Cup, Gongadi Trisha, the Player of the Match in the final, got the highest score of 52 off 47 balls.
VJ Joshitha (RCB) and Prasad (Delhi Capitals) were the other members of the team to sign their maiden WPL contracts. Shabnam Shakil, a medium-pacer, was already with the Gujarat Giants and had played in four WPL matches as well as a few white-ball matches for India A in Australia in August.
Having participated in the previous U-19 World Cup, Trisha, Shakil, and Sonam Yadav will be competing in their second tournament.
After going undefeated (except from a game against Nepal that was called off), India won the Asia Cup. Before winning the final, they defeated Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the Super Fours and won their other league match against Pakistan.
The second such event is the forthcoming World Cup, which will take place from January 18 to February 2. The 16 teams have been split up into four groups of four each. The reigning champions, India, are in Group A with Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies. The Bayuemas Oval in Kuala Lumpur will host all of India’s league games.
Before playing Malaysia on January 21 and Sri Lanka on January 23, India’s campaign will begin on January 19 against the West Indies.