Women in Blue start firm favourites as focus shifts to ODIs

There’s little that can dent the momentum of a high-flying Indian team at home, in its favourite format – One Day Internationals – hosting a side ranked 11 places below it: Zimbabwe. More so after a dominant 3-0 sweep of the T20I leg of a historic maiden bilateral engagement.

But one thing can: injuries. Damages to India’s seam resources have been a thorn in the side of the reigning 50-over World champion, and its resistance faces a setback with Renuka Singh ruled out courtesy of not building the required bowling volume for 50-over cricket at the BCCI Centre of Excellence.

The Women’s Premier League and changes (however slow) in prioritising pace at the domestic level have pushed a greater raw pool to the doors of the team which means this type of an absence won’t sting as much as it would have a few years ago. But with the inaugural Women’s Champions Trophy around the corner, India will sweat over Renuka’s fitness and bowling rhythm.

The task for the present, however, is to replicate its T20I dominance over the Lady Chevrons in the one-day series too. And India’s bulging batting muscle perhaps has that job in the bag comfortably.

Jemimah Rodrigues’ absence due to injury means the door opens for someone like Yastika Bhatia and Tejal Hasabnis — who have registered stellar scores at the A level recently — or Harleen Deol, part of the World Cup-winning side in 2025 but who has since lost fallen out of favour.

Life is quiet in the village of Kotambi, where the Baroda Cricket Association Stadium, which will host this leg, is situated. It’s a quiet green lung off the state highway, but these two teams will hope to turn up the decibels.

Josephine Nkomo’s side is far from a pushover, and will hope to pose a tough question or two to the ODI behemoth.

The squads: India: Smriti Mandhana (Capt.), Deepti Sharma (Vice-capt.), Shafali Verma, Pratika Rawal, Harmanpreet Kaur, Harleen Deol, Tejal Hasabnis, Richa Ghosh (wk), Yastika Bhatia (wk), Vaishnavi Sharma, Nandani Sharma, Shree Charani, Kranti Gaud, Sayali Satghare, Jintimani Kalita.

Zimbabwe: Josephine Nkomo (Capt.), Kelis Ndhlovu, Beloved Biza, Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano, Chiedza Dhururu (wk), Nyasha Gwanzura, Modester Mupachikwa, Sharne Mayers, Loryn Phiri, Francisca Chipare, Kudzai Chigora, Nomvelo Sibanda, Olinder Chare, Michelle Mavunga, Tendai Makusha.

Match starts at 2 p.m.