New Delhi: Gunalan Kamalini and Vaishnavi Sharma on Tuesday got their maiden call-ups in the Indian women’s team for the upcoming five-match T20I series against Sri Lanka at home.
The series will be played from December 21 to 30, with the first two games in Visakhapatnam and the last three in Thiruvananthapuram.
While 17-year-old wicketkeeper-batter Kamalini has featured in nine matches for Mumbai Indians in the Women’s Premier League, Vaishnavi, 19, who is also a part of the 15-member India squad, was not drafted into the WPL auctions.
Kamalini and Vaishnavi came in place of Radha Yadav and Uma Chhetri, who were part of the squad that triumphed in the ODI World Cup last month.
Kamalini and Vaishnavi aside, the squad comprises all the familiar names with Harmanpreet Kaur leading the team and Smriti Mandhana doing duty as the vice-captain.
Big-hitting opener Shafali Verma, who replaced Pratika Rawal in the World Cup squad just before the semifinal against Australia after the latter was ruled out of the tournament with an injury, is also part of the team.
India and Sri Lanka play the five-match series just before the start of the WPL 2026 on January 9 in Navi Mumbai.
The schedule of this bilateral series was announced soon after the white-ball series between India and Bangladesh that was to happen in India in December got postponed last month.
The last time India and Sri Lanka played a T20I was at the World Cup in October 2024.
India’s squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Harleen Deol, Amanjot Kaur, Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud, Renuka Singh Thakur, Richa Ghosh (WK), G Kamalini (WK), Sree Charani, Vaishnavi Sharma.
