Mithali to lead Indian eves in World Cup qualifiers

Mithali Raj will be leading the Indian women's cricket team in the ICC World Cup qualifier scheduled to be held in Colombo from February 7-21.

It will be a 10-team competition. India, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka are among the leading sides participating in the tournament, which will decide which four teams get a chance to play in the ICC Women's World Cup 2017 from 24 June to 23 July in England and Wales.

The top four sides will also earn places in the second edition of the ICC Women's Championship, while the fifth and sixth placed sides will secure ODI status for the next four years.

Australia, England, New Zealand and the West Indies have already qualified directly for the pinnacle tournament after finishing among the top four in the ICC Women s Championship, which concluded in November 2016.

India, which has been clubbed along with Sri Lanka, Ireland, Zimbabwe and Thailand in Group A, is the top side in the Colombo tournament at fifth rank and boasts a number of top players.

The squads: India: Mithali Raj (captain), Ekta Bisht, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Jhulan Goswami, Harmanpreet Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy, Mona Meshram, Shikha Pandey, Sukanya Parida, Deepti Sharma, M D Thirushkamini, Devika Vaidya, Sushma Verma and Poonam Yadav. Coach: Purnima Rau.