Shiv Sunder Das named India Women batting coach for England tour

Shiv Sunder Das, the former India men's Test opener, has been appointed as the batting coach of India Women for the upcoming tour of England, while Abhay Sharma has been named the fielding coach.

Rajkuvardevi Gaekwad, the current Baroda women's selection panel chief, replaced long-time manager Trupti Bhattacharya, who served in the role until the home series against South Africa in March.

Das, who previously worked with the India women's A team, including during the 2020 quadrangular series in Patna, told ESPNcricinfo he has been appointed only for the seven-match England tour.

"This is the first time I have been assigned a job with the India women's national team, so it's a quite exciting time for me," he said. "I'm really looking forward to it. It will be a good challenge for me because I've toured England as a player and played a lot of league cricket. Conditions-wise I'm a bit familiar, so it will be nice to add value to the team. My focus is only on the England tour as of now because I've come in for the England tour."

ESPNcricinfo understands that official confirmation to the largely new-look support staff of India Women was sent by Monday, with the touring contingent - including a 21-member playing squad - for the England assignment set to assemble in Mumbai on May 19.

Ramesh Powar was appointed as the head coach on a two-year contract on Thursday. The tenure of the rest of the support staff, where Tracy Fernandes has been retained as physio, remains unclear.

The nine-member support staff slated to tour England includes trainer R Naresh, performance analyst Sandeep Raju, and masseuse Neerja Desai. Former India international and National Cricket Academy spin-bowling coach Narendra Hirwani, who worked as the spin consultant with India Women under former head coach WV Raman through July 2019 to March this year, doesn't feature on the list.

Sharma, the former Railways wicketkeeper, has had stints with the India men's sides and was the fielding coach of India Women for the South Africa series.

India's fixtures in England include a one-off Test that begins on June 16 in Bristol and three ODIs and three T20Is, the tour-ender scheduled for July 15.