The United States has announced its national team for the ICC Under-19 Women's T20 World Cup to be held in South Africa early next year. While this might seem like a normal announcement, the squad has left the Indian internet in splits.
For, the majority of the players were of Indian origin that someone commented it looks like "India B Team."
The US, 105th member of the ICC and the latest entrant to the ODI nations, will have a 15-player squad representing it under the captaincy of Geetika Kodali. Anika Kolan has been named vice-captain. The team will be coached by recent ICC Hall of Fame inductee Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the former captain of the West Indies cricket team who was also a cricketer of Indian origin.
The USA Cricket also announced the names of five
non-travelling reserves which include Chetnaa Prasad, Kasturi Vedantham, Lisa Ramjit, Mitali Patwardhan, and Tya Gonsalves.
The other members of the team include Aditi Chudasama, Bhumika Bhadriraju, Disha Dhingra, Isani Vaghela, Jivana Aras, Laasya Mullapudi, Pooja Ganesh (wk), Pooja Shah, Ritu Singh, Sai Tanmayi Eyyunni, Snigdha Paul, Suhani Thadani, Taranum Chopra.
The US team will play in Group A which features Australia, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.
The line-up has cracked up netizens who commented about the origin of the players. One user wrote: "The USA women's cricket team is a more diverse representation of India than the Indian women's cricket team!:)"
Another commented: "This is like an Indian team," while another extended "full support" to the team.
Though almost all the team members are Persons of Indian Origin, they all are born or raised in the US. The captain, Geetika is based in California and began playing cricket at the age of 11. She began her formal training when she was 15 at the Cricket Cricket Zeal Academy in California.
Vice-captain Anika, a wicketkeeper-batter, too began her stint with the game around nine, according to The Times Of India.
According to USA Cricket Board Member and Women and Girls Committee Chair Nadia Gruny, the World Cup is the realization of a dream for these young players who will get the honour of being the first female cricketers to ever represent the US at any Cricket World Cup.
"Our squad represents a new generation of American cricketers and we’re most excited to see them display their brand of cricket as rising stars announcing themselves on the World stage," he added.
