India's star bowling all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar has recovered from Covid-19 and is set to join Harmanpreet Kaur-led squad in Birmingham. Vastrakar and Sabbhineni Meghana had tested positive for the virus before Team India's scheduled departure for CWG games.
Meghana recovered and featured in India’s second clash of the group stage against Pakistan on July 31 whereas Vastrakar will be available for the must-win game against Barbados on August 3.
After a disheartening loss against T20 World Champions Australia, Renuka Singh who took four wickets with the new ball said that they missed the services of Vastrakar. Renuka felt that Vastrakar’s extra pace could have troubled the Australians, especially when they were 49/5 in the run chase.
India are currently at the top of Group A with a positive 1.520 Net Run Rate (NRR) after a convincing eight-wicket victory over the arch-rivals Pakistan. Bismah Maroof-led Pakistan have been knocked out of the tournament and will play their last match against Australia.
Vastrakar is not India's prime wicket-taker with 21 wickets from 27 games. However, she is capable of stemming the flow of runs. She has an economy rate of 6.11 runs per over.
India T20I squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Sabbhineni Meghana, Taniyaa Bhatia (wk), Yastika Bhatia (Wk), Deepti Sharma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Pooja Vastrakar, Meghna Singh, Renuka Thakur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Radha Yadav, Harleen Deol, Sneh Rana
Standbys: Simran Bahadur, Richa Ghosh, Poonam Yadav
