Under-19 World Cup-winning pacer Shabnam Shakil has received her maiden call-up to the India senior team as a late addition to the national squads for the ongoing multi-format series against South Africa.
Shakil, 17, is likely included as a cover or to manage the workload of India’s frontline pacers.
In the opening ODI of the three-match series in Bengaluru, Pooja Vastrakar and Renuka Thakur shared the new-ball duties.
Vastrakar, however, was a doubtful starter for the ODIs, with her selection in the original squad contingent on her fitness after reporting a shoulder niggle and undergoing rehab at the NCA in Bengaluru.
On Wednesday, in Thakur’s absence during the second ODI—described as ‘rest’ by skipper Harmanpreet Kaur at the toss—Arundhati Reddy received her maiden ODI cap.
Meanwhile, Thakur was seen undergoing a fitness test on the sidelines of the team’s pre-match training under the supervision of the team’s S&C coach Anand Date.
For the one-off Test in Chennai, India’s squad includes a fourth pace-bowling option in Meghna Singh, besides the three from the ODI squad.
Meghna will make way for pace-bowling allrounder Amanjot Kaur for the three-match T20I series.
Shakil was also in Bengaluru recently, first as part of a pacers-specific camp ahead of the series selection and then as part of the Board President’s XI that played a warm-up fixture against the tourists.
Only 14 overs of BP XI’s batting were possible in the 50-overs contest before it was rained out.
After spending the inaugural season on the bench at Gujarat Giants, Shakil made her debut in the 2024 season, picking up four wickets in four WPL games at an economy rate of 7.
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