Women's Asia Cup: Tanuja handed international debut as UAE opt to bowl first vs India

Dambulla, July 21: Left-arm spinner Tanuja Kanwer has been handed an international debut by India as UAE won the toss and elected to bowl first in a Group A match of Women’s Asia Cup at the Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

Tanuja, one of the four traveling reserves, was drafted into the main squad after Shreyanka Patil was ruled out of the competition due to a fractured finger in her left hand sustained during India’s seven-wicket win over Pakistan on Friday.

Hailing from Himachal Pradesh, Tanuja has been a consistent performer for Gujarat Giants in the Women’s Premier League (WPL), was given her debut India cap by her state-mate Renuka Singh Thakur.

"We wanted to bat only, happy with that. We'll just go with the flow and see how we start," said India captain Harmanpreet Kaur.

UAE skipper Esha Oza said her side is unchanged from their surprising defeat to a lowr-ranked Nepal on Friday. “It is a fresh wicket and want to use that to our advantage. It is important to learn from the game before. We made quite a few errors on the field and want to correct that,” she said.

Playing XIs

India: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Dayalan Hemalatha, Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wicketkeeper), Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Renuka Thakur Singh and Tanuja Kanwer

UAE: Esha Oza (captain), Theertha Satish (wicketkeeper), Rinitha Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Kavisha Egodage, Khushi Sharma, Heena Hotchandani, Vaishnave Mahesh, Rithika Rajith, Lavanya Keny and Indhuja Nandakumar