India’s Renuka Singh clears fitness tests, set to lead pace attack in Australia ODI series

NEW DELHI: Renuka Singh, who will lead India’s pace attack during the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, is building up on her return in India colours for the first time since December 2024.

India women’s head coach, Amol Muzumdar, divulged details about the pacer’s recovery status ahead of the ODI series against Australia, which begins on 14 September, as per the ICC website. “Renuka has just joined in for this series. She was recovering, and she cleared all her tests”, Muzumdar told reporters ahead of the series opener.

Renuka, who is India’s strike bowler with the new ball, has 35 ODI scalps at an average of 22.02 and an impressive economy of 4.85. “Renuka is an important member of the team; she is the leader of the pack as far as medium-pace bowling is concerned. I think she’s been an integral part of this team. She had an injury, a layoff, and now she’s back with us”, Muzumdar said.

𝙍𝙚𝙣𝙪𝙠𝙖 𝙍𝙚𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙨!

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— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) September 12, 2025

The three-game Australia outing will help India work out their best possible combinations before the World Cup challenge kicks off. According to coach Muzumdar, it is also an essential series for India to build on their recent positive outings.

The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side were a force to reckon with in the tri-series outing in Sri Lanka in April-May, where they won the final by 97 runs, and subsequently defeated England in both ODI and T20I series during their tour of the country in June-July.

“I think it’s (Australia) an essential series for us, and we’re looking forward to the series,” Muzumdar added. “Playing against one of the top teams in the world. We had a lovely tour of England. We had positive results which we wanted in England, and now we’re looking forward to this series.”

Speaking further on the England tour, Muzumdar pinpointed the crucial takeaways for the side ahead of the World Cup. “We had the results, as you know. 2-1 in the ODIs, and we also won the T20I series, a first-time result in England. A great 40-day tour, and we gelled really well. It was a great team effort. Everyone contributed. [Our first win on the tour] was set up really nicely by Smriti [Mandhana], who got a hundred at Trent Bridge, and ended really well with Harman getting a hundred at Durham. In between, there were solid positives about most of the players who played,” Muzumdar added.

“Somebody like Kranti Goud getting six wickets [was great]. Radha Yadav chipped in both the series. Deepti Sharma also chipped in, whether with the bat or the ball,” Muzumdar said. When asked about how India were looking to prepare for the Australia series, Muzumdar stated that India’s focus will be to get their strategies right.

“Australia has been the dominant force for so many years, but we focus on our preparations, and we tend to give a lot of importance to how we prepare ourselves, how we plan and how we are going to execute it. How we can focus internally”, Muzumdar concluded.

The three ODIs in the series will be played on 14, 17 and 19 September. India begins their Cricket World Cup campaign against co-hosts Sri Lanka in Guwahati on September 30. (ANI)