Former Indian women’s all-rounder Gargi Banerjee has been appointed as the Indian women’s team manager for the team's upcoming tour Down Under. The 60-year-old will replace Rajkuvaradevi Gaikwad who was appointed as the manager for the tour of England in June-July. Gaikwad had earlier succeeded long-time manager Trupti Bhattacharya for the tour but couldn’t quite retain her place for the Australia tour.
Banerjee was one of the pioneers of Bengal women’s cricket back in the 80s. She played lone Women's Tests and 26 ODIs for India in a career spanning thirteen years from 1978 to 1991. She had earlier also served as a national selector for the women’s national team.
This isn't the only change in the team management for the upcoming tour of Australia. As per reports in the ESPN Cricinfo, fielding coach Abhay Sharma has also been replaced. He received praises from different quarters including T20I skipper Harmanpreet Kaur. Abhay Sharma has been appointed as the fielding coach at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) while his position in the Indian team has been taken up by Subhadeep Ghosh.
Ghosh, who had played for Assam and the Railways has already joined the pre-tour camp in Bengaluru. A group of 30 players excluding support staff entered the pre-camp on August 10. Meanwhile, the likes of Shafali Verma, Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma and Jemimah Rodriguez, who recently plied their trade in the inaugural edition of the Hundred Women will assemble with the group of players on August 22.
Meanwhile, batting coach Shiv Shunder Das, who was roped in as a part of the support staff for the tour of England managed to retain the position for the tour Down Under as well.
India Women will play three ODIs and an equal number of T20S along with a Day/Night Test, their first-ever in the history of cricket on the Australia tour.