USA Under-19 team to tour the Windward Islands for T20s in January

The USA Cricket has announced that the Under 19s team will tour the Windward Islands for four T20 matches starting January 24. Geetika Kodali will lead the 15-member squad for the tour, while Laasya Mullapudi will be her deputy.



Nadia Gruny, the USA Cricket Board Member and Women and Girls Committee Chair expressed her views on this tour. “In line with our recently launched plan to Shape the Future for Women & Girls in American Cricket to ‘Create increased competitive international match opportunities’, this tour will present a fantastic opportunity for some of the young talent,” she said.



The captain, Kodali was part of the USA squad for the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe. The selected squad does not include several of the Under-19 players who participated in the same tournament like Anika Kolan, Isani Vaghela, and Suhani Thadani. The vice-captain of this squad, Mullapudi missed out on an opportunity to be part of the squad for the World Cup Qualifiers.



ALSO READ: USA win T20 World Cup Americas Qualifier; Brazil pull off heist against Canada to finish second



The World Cup Qualifier was abandoned due to a new variant of COVID-19 in Zimbabwe. Prior to that, the USA won the ICC Women's T20 World Cup Americas Qualifiers held in Mexico.



USA Cricket Operations Director, Richard Done reiterated the board’s commitment towards the team and pathway programs. “USA Cricket is excited by the potential of our Under 19 group and the impact they are already having on our USA Women’s Team, most recently in Mexico and then in Zimbabwe.”



The Windward Islands, which comprise the islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, St. Lucia, and Dominica, will host the series. Windward Islands Cricket Board’s (WICB) President Dr. Kishore Shallow said, “This exciting tour represents a shared vision of both USA Cricket and WICB to offer more development opportunities for female cricketers.”



USA U19 Squad: Geetika Kodali (Captain), Laasya Mullapudi (Vice-Captain), Anika Kumar, Bhumika Bhadriraju, Chetna Pagyadala, Disha Dhingra, Jivana Aras, Mitali Patwardhan (WK), Pooja Ganesh (WK), Ritu Singh, Sai Tanmayi Eyyunni, Snigdha Paul, Trisha Bhima, Tya Gonsalves, Yashaaditi Teki.



Match Schedule:

January 24: 1st T20

January 25: 2nd T20

January 27: 3rd T20

January 28: 4th T20