Gargi Banerjee named India Women manager for Australia tour

Former India batting allrounder Gargi Banerjee has been appointed India's team manager for the upcoming tour of Australia. Banerjee, 60, replaces Rajkuvardevi Gaekwad, the former chairperson of the Baroda women's selection panel who had succeeded long-time manager Trupti Bhattacharya for the tour of England in June-July.

One of the pioneering figures in Bengal women's cricket, Banerjee played 12 Tests and 26 ODIs for India, between 1978 and 1991, and later served as a women's national selector. She is currently part of the Cricket Association of Bengal Apex Council and will link up with the Indian contingent in Bengaluru on Sunday evening.

Among a raft of changes made to the support staff for the Australia tour, ESPNcricinfo understands fielding coach Abhay Sharma has been replaced despite having come in for praise from several India players during the England series, including T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur. Sharma, it is learnt, has assumed the fielding coach role at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru and his position in the Indian team has been taken up by Subhadeep Ghosh.

A former Railways and Assam player, Ghosh will travel to Australia and has already entered the ongoing pre-tour camp in Bengaluru, where a group of 30 probables assembled on August 10, with the last member of the Hundred quintet due to join by August 22 to round out the pool of 35.

Batting coach Shiv Sunder Das, meanwhile, retained his position in the support staff, having been roped in for the assignment against England on a tour-by-tour basis.

While the BCCI has put out no official word on the camp or the support staff rejig, a whittled-down Indian squad from the 35 probables is likely to be announced by Wednesday. The extended squad, under the supervision of head coach Ramesh Powar, is understood to have undergone several match-simulation sessions since coming out of a six-day quarantine early last week.

The Indian team is due to fly out on August 29 and will serve a 14-day quarantine upon landing in Australia. The tour comprises three ODIs, starting with one at the North Sydney Oval on September 19, followed by those at the Junction Oval on September 22 and 24, before the caravan moves to Perth for the standalone day-night Test, scheduled on September 30. The tour will conclude with the T20Is at the North Sydney Oval on October 7, 9 and 11, with Australia then set to break for the WBBL, which is also set to have Indian representation.