India v Ireland: Gaby Lewis says tourists can shock hosts in series

Ireland captain Gaby Lewis believes her team “have the skill to get a win or two” in the three-game one-day series against India that starts in Rajkot on Friday.

The Ireland women have never beaten India in 12 previous ODIs but the hosts go into the first bilateral series between the sides minus skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and fast bowler Renuka Singh, who took 10 wickets in the recent 3-0 ODI series win against West Indies.

Smriti Mandhana will captain the hosts, whose bowling options include the relatively inexperienced pair Titas Sadhu and Saima Thakor.

“We’ve loved our time here so far,” said Ireland captain Lewis before the three games which will be one of the final series scheduled as part of the 2022-25 ICC Women’s Championship.

“We’re just looking forward to the game and hopefully we can get a win on the board.”

Lewis says Ireland can be competitive after earning white-ball wins over Sri Lanka and England last summer then going on to record a 3-0 T20 series win in Bangladesh – although that came after losing the ODIs by the same margin as the hosts dominated.

“We’ve got some great young players coming through,” added the Ireland captain.

“We’ve seen in the last 12 months that we can take on the top nations. We had a great summer, beating Sri Lanka and England. The only way is up for us as a team.”

Ireland will be without injured wicketkeeper-batter Amy Hunter, who has been replaced by Joanna Loughran.

The remaining matches in the series take place on Sunday and Wednesday in Rajkot.