Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], March 24 (ANI): The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the squad for the Indian women's team's five-match away T20I series against South Africa, starting from next month.

The five-match T20I series will start on April 17 and will go on till April 27.

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur will be leading the side, with star batter Smriti Mandhana being her deputy. The likes of Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Bharti Fulmali, Uma Chetry, Anushka Sharma and wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh will provide power-packed batting options.

Anushka, who represented Gujarat Giants (GG) in this year's Women's Premier League (WPL), has received her first-ever call-up to the national side. During the tournament, she was one of GG's brightest stars, scoring 177 runs in seven innings at an average of 25.28, with a strike rate of 129.19 and a best score of 44. GG's journey in the season ended during the playoffs, losing to Delhi Capitals (DC).

Spinners Shreyanka Patil and Shree Charani will form a solid spin trio with an experienced Deepti, while the pace attack will consist of Renuka Thakur, Arundhati Reddy and Kranti Gaud.

The first two fixtures of the series will take place on April 17 and 19 in Durban, while the next two will take place in Johannesburg on April 22 and 25. The final fixture on April 27 will take place at Benoni.

India's squad for South Africa Tour: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (WK), Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Thakur, Kranti Gaud, Sree Charani, Shreyanka Patil, Kashvee Gautam, Bharti Fulmali, Uma Chetry (WK), Anushka Sharma. (ANI)