India tour of Australia: Yastika Bhatia’s unfortunate season of injuries continues as she is ruled out of ODI series Down Under | Cricket News

India tour of Australia: Just as she was making her comeback from one injury-enforced break, Yastika Bhatia suffered another blow as she was ruled out of India’s upcoming ODI series in Australia.
On Wednesday, another keeper-batter Uma Chetry was announced as Yastika’s replacement. BCCI confirmed that Yastika injured her wr in the ongoing Women’s Big Bash League in Australia, where she played for Melbourne Stars. “The All India Women’s Selection Committee has named Uma Chetry as Bhatia’s replacement in the squad,” said the BCCI in a statement. Yastika made her WBBL debut this season.
It’s an unfortunate development for Yastika, who had missed a chunk of action earlier this year due to an injury in her left knee, reportedly a grade one tear of the Posterior Cruciate Ligament. That happened during India’s tour of Bangladesh, and ruled her out of the home matches against South Africa as well as the Asia Cup. Fit again, she made her comeback in the squad for the T20 World Cup, but didn’t feature in the playing XI as India made a disappointing early exit.
“I was really hungry to play,” Yastika told cricket.com.au after her impressing with a half century in her second WBBL outing for the Stars. “After the injury, I was looking forward to coming back and just playing matches, to just be on the ground. That’s what I’m really grateful for – it’s tough to be out for around five months.” She played six matches in the WBBL, in what was her first overseas league assignment.
Uma has played four T20s for India, and has been in good form in domestic cricket recently. In the Senior Womens T20 Challenger Trophy, playing for Team B, she scored 231 runs in four innings, including a highest of 122, at an average of 57.75 and strike rate of 154.00.
India will play the first two ODIs at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane on December 5 and December 8. The third and final ODI is at the WACA Ground in Perth on December 11. The series is part of the ICC Women’s Championship.
Updated India squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Priya Punia, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Richa Ghosh (WK), Tejal Hasabnis, Deepti Sharma, Minnu Mani, Priya Mishra, Radha Yadav, Titas Sadhu, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh Thakur, Saima Thakor, Uma Chetry (WK)