India announce squad for multi-format tour of South Africa; Jemimah returns, no place for Shreyanka

Arun Rawal

Arun Rawal

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Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma and Shreyanka Patil of India during the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 match against Pakistan at Dubai International Stadium on October 06, 2024 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma and Shreyanka Patil of India during the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024 match against Pakistan at Dubai International Stadium on October 06, 2024 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Story Highlights:

Jemimah Rodrigues has recovered from hamstring injury.

Recently made her ODI debut, pacer Jintimani Kalita has got her maiden Test call-up.

The women's selection committee on November 9 announced the squad for the multi-format tour of South Africa next month featuring one Tests, three ODIs and as many T20Is. India's star batter Jemimah Rodrigues will mark her comeback to international cricket after recovering from a hamstring injury and proving her fitness in the domestic T20 tournament. Jemimah hasn't played a game in international cricket since July 2026. 

Shreyanka Patil has been dropped from the T20I squad, considering India have plenty of spin options - Deepti Sharma, Shree Charani and Prema Rawat. Shreyanka had taken four wickets in India's Asian Games 2026 gold medal-winning campaign. Before that, she was wicketless in the T20 World Cup 2026 on English soil before an injury ruled her out. 

Jintimani Kalita is not part of the T20I squad either. However, pacer Jintimani has received her maiden Test call-up. Jintimani made her ODI debut against Zimbabwe and managed to take just one wicket.

Minnu Mani is the other spinner left out of the T20I squad. Meanwhile, Sayali Satghare is set to make her T20I comeback. The T20I squad sees the return of pace-bowling all-rounder Amanjot Kaur. 26-year-old Amanjot has been absent from the squad for a long time. Her previous international appearance was against Australia in an ODI played in Hobart.

With Jemimah’s return, Tejal Hasabnis has been dropped from the ODIs. Hasabnis played two ODIs against Zimbabwe last month. She got to bat once and scored just three runs. 

This will be Smriti Mandhana’s first away tour since taking over the captaincy across formats from Harmanpreet Kaur. Smriti will make her Test captaincy debut in the only Test in Gqeberha. She will be the 13th woman to captain India in Tests.

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India’s Test Squad vs South Africa -

Smriti Mandhana (c), Shafali Verma, Pratika Rawal, Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Richa Ghosh (wk), Yastika Bhatia (wk), Deepti Sharma (vc), Sree Charani, Sneh Rana, Kranti Gaud, Nandni Sharma, Jintimani Kalita, Sayali Satghare.

India’s ODI Squad vs South Africa -

Smriti Mandhana (c), Shafali Verma, Pratika Rawal, Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Richa Ghosh (wk), Yastika Bhatia (wk), Deepti Sharma (vc), Sree Charani, Vaishnavi Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Nandni Sharma, Jintimani Kalita, Sayali Satghare.

India’s T20I Squad vs South Africa -

Smriti Mandhana (c), Shafali Verma (vc), Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur, Niki Prasad, Richa Ghosh (wk), G. Kamalini (wk), Anushka Sharma, Deepti Sharma, Sree Charani, Prema Rawat, Amanjot Kaur, Kranti Gaud, Nandni Sharma, Renuka Singh Thakur, Arundhati Reddy, Sayali Satghare.

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India Women's tour of South Africa full schedule -

No.

Day

Date

Match

Venue

1

Wednesday

09-Dec-2026

Test

Gqeberha

2

Wednesday

16-Dec-2026

1st ODI

Paarl

3

Saturday

19-Dec-2026

2nd ODI

Cape Town

4

Tuesday

22-Dec-2026

3rd ODI

Bloemfontein

5

Saturday

26-Dec-2026

1st T20I

Benoni

6

Tuesday

29-Dec-2026

2nd T20I

Potchefstroom

7

Wednesday

30-Dec-2026

3rd T20I

Potchefstroom

India Women vs South Africa Women Test record

India are set to play a Test against South Africa for the first time in 24 years. The previous Test was in Paarl in 2002. Anjum Chopra-led South Africa won the Test by 10 wickets, chasing a small target of 13 runs.

India have played two Tests against South Africa at home, almost a decade apart. In 2014, India won the Mysore Test by an innings and 34 runs. Harmanpreet Kaur took nine wickets, including a fifer in the first innings. In 2024, India won the Chennai Test by 10 wickets. Shafali Verma slammed a double ton whereas Sneh Rana bagged 10 wickets, including an eight-wicket haul in the first innings.