The newly-crowned Women’s ODI World Cup champions, India Women, are set to return to action for the upcoming five-match home T20I series against Sri Lanka, starting December 21. A strong 15-member squad has been announced, including two maiden call-ups — Tamil Nadu’s G. Kamalini and Madhya Pradesh’s Vaishnavi Sharma. Among them, Vaishnavi’s name caught most of the attention.
Vaishnavi, a 20-year-old left-arm orthodox bowler from Madhya Pradesh, has enjoyed a fruitful 2025. She began the year with outstanding performances in the Women’s U19 T20 World Cup, finishing with 17 wickets in six innings at an economy of 3.35, including a five-wicket haul. Her consistency played a key role in India winning the World Cup for the second time in a row. Since then, she has not looked back.
In domestic cricket, she continued her strong run. Vaishnavi took 21 wickets in nine matches for Madhya Pradesh and ended as the tournament’s highest wicket-taker, even though the team lost the final to Maharashtra. She carried that form into the Senior Women’s Inter-Zonal T20 Trophy 2025, taking 12 wickets in five matches for Central Zone and finished as the second-highest wicket-taker.
Recently, she was in action for Madhya Pradesh in the Women’s U-23 T20 Trophy Elite. During the course of the tournament, the mega auction for the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2026 was taking place, and expectations were high that Vaishnavi would earn a contract. But no franchise showed interest, surprising many who follow domestic cricket closely. With no WPL selection and a modest U-23 Trophy return of two wickets in five games at an economy of 4.95, it seemed her year might end on a disappointing note. But now that she has earned a maiden India call-up — the perfect way to close the year.
Proud coach’s reaction
RevSportz spoke to her coach, Lovekesh Chaudhary, after the announcement, and he was proud of his student.
“I am very happy. She is now the first player from Gwalior who will represent Team India, and we are fortunate enough for this opportunity. She has been performing consistently, and as a coach, I am very happy that she has made a lot of progress,” he said.
He also admitted that Vaishanvi’s missing out on a WPL contract was surprising. “Yes, it was a little shocking. She has been consistent, always there in the highest wicket-taking list for the last one year in several domestic competitions. So, it was a little shocking, but now she is going to play for India, a bigger opportunity for her than WPL.”
Ignored in WPL but selectors reward domestic consistency
It was indeed surprising. When an uncapped player is assessed for WPL, domestic performance should be the primary benchmark. So, when someone like Vaishnavi was ignored, it was bound to raise doubts among many young cricketers dreaming of opportunities going forward.
Here, credit must go to the new India Women’s selection panel — all former internationals. Kudos to chief selector Amita Sharma and her team — Shyama Dey, Sulakshana Naik, Jaya Sharma, and Sravanthi Naidu — for showing faith in the 20-year-old.
Kamalini’s call-up felt expected as she was also part of the U-19 World Cup-winning squad. She performed well in domestic cricket and represented the Mumbai Indians in the last WPL season. MI also retained the 17-year-old, and she is already familiar to many because of the WPL stage.
But in Vaishnavi’s case, despite consistent domestic performances, she did not get a WPL team. Considering her for India was a brave and commendable move. Credit to the panel for restoring belief among upcoming cricketers that selection is not limited to WPL, domestic performances are equally important. According to close sources to RevSportz, the decision to send Shafali Verma as the replacement for the injured Pratika Rawal during the ODI World Cup was also taken by this new panel.
Now all eyes will be on whether Vaishnavi gets opportunities in the playing XI. A year that began with a U-19 World Cup title may end with her wearing the senior India jersey — representing her country at the highest level.
