The BCCI has announced the yearly central contracts for the India women’s squad, with Harmanpreet, Mandhana, and Deepti receiving top grades
On Thursday, BCCI released the Annual Player Contracts for the Indian senior women’s team for the 2022-23 season, with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana, and Deepti Sharma being assigned to Grade ‘A’.
Renuka Thakur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shefali Verma, Richa Ghosh, and Rajeshwari Gayakwad are put in Grade ‘B’, while Meghna Singh, Devika Vaidya, Sabbineni Meghana, Anjali Sarvani, Pooja Vastrakar, Sneh Rana, Radha Yadav, Harleen Deol, and Yastika Bhatia are put in Grade ‘C’.
After Mithali Raj’s retirement following the 2022 ODI World Cup, Harmanpreet took over as India’s captain across all three forms in the previous year. Since then, the 34-year-old Harmanpreet has served as the team’s captain at both the T20 World Cup earlier this year and the 2022 Commonwealth Games, when India advanced to the final but lost to Australia in both.
Mandhana was promoted to vice-captaincy in ODIs in the last year and continues to be one of India’s most reliable batsmen. In every format, Deepti Sharma has been a crucial member of the team and has been especially important when the team holds the ball.
Jemimah Rodrigues, who missed the ODI World Cup last year, also had a fantastic return to the team and has now been upgraded to Grade B.
The Mumbai Indians won the Women’s Premier League’s debut season, defeating the Meg Lanning-led Delhi Capitals in the championship game under Harmanpreet’s leadership.
