Mithali to lead Indian eves in ICC World Cup qualifiers

New Delhi: Seasoned player Mithali Raj will skipper the Indian women's cricket team for the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup qualifiers to be played from February 3 to 21 in Colombo.

The team comprises of most of the prominent names in the squad which guided India to clinch the women's T20 Asia Cup 2016 title in December last year by beating arch-rivals Pakistan.

Asian champions and former World Cup finalists India lead 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.

India will open its campaign against Sri Lanka on February 7 at the P. Sara Oval Stadium.

Squad: Mithali Raj (Captain), 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.