Hosts India reveal squad for Women's World Cup 2025

Harmanpreet Kaur is set to lead India for the first time in the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup with Smriti Mandhana as her deputy, as the hosts finalised a solid 15-member squad for the 2025 edition commencing on September 30.

India squad for World Cup: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Yastika Bhatia, Renuka Singh Thakur, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Sree Charani, Radha Yadav, Amanjot Kaur, Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud.

Reserves: Tejal Hasabnis, Prema Rawat, Priya Mishra, Uma Chetry, Minnu Mani, Sayali Satghare

India also announced a squad for the Australia home ODI series, after a successful white-ball series against England, ahead of the grand tournament where the hosts begin their campaign against Sri Lanka on the opening day.

India squad for Australia series: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Renuka Singh Thakur, Arundhati Reddy, Richa Ghosh, Kranti Gaud, Sayali Satghare, Radha Yadav, Sree Charani, Yastika Bhatia, Sneh Rana.

The only change from the Australia squad to the World Cup one would be Satghare being replaced by Amanjot, who will be participating in her first World Cup.

While regulars like Sharma, Rodrigues and Ghosh have made it to the main squad, Deol and Amanjot have been rewarded for their consistent performances in the last two years.

Shafali Varma, who was a part of the T20I series against England but was left out of the ODI leg, has been excluded from the final squad for the mega event.

Yastika Bhatia, who didn't feature in the England ODIs, gets a place after her impressive performance recently for India A against Australia A where she guided her team to a 2-1 win in the three-match ODI series, with scores of 59, 66, and 42 respectively.

Breakout stars Pratika Rawal, who has amassed 703 runs in just 14 matches since her debut in December last year and Kranti Gaud, who had a splendid tour in England picking six wickets in the third ODI to guide India's series win, are in line for their maiden World Cup appearances this year.

While the top order looks formidable with Mandhana, Rawal and Deol, the middle order consisting of Rodriques, Kaur, Ghosh and Amanjot can give the team a much-needed fiery middle-order.

The Indian spin department will be headed by Sharma along with Sneh Rana, combined with left-arm spinner Radha Yadav and leg-spinner Sree Charani for a balanced spin attack in home conditions.

Renuka Singh's return from injury has bolstered India's pace attack of Gaud and Reddy.

This will be Kaur's fifth ODI World Cup and her first as the skipper.