India to Host Ireland for Three-Match ODI Series Starting January 10, 2025 in Rajkot

In return, it is Ireland who is to make a three-match One-Day International  tour in India, its first-ever bilateral tour by the country. This would be the first series between the two teams since 2006. This is a series that India would glance through before the Women's ODI World Cup, later this year. In reality, with a next ODI series scheduled against England in July, this offers them an ideal opportunity to assess their team composition before that summer season.

At the bottom is Ireland, the women's team which never qualified directly to the World Cup and has not even won the Women's Championship. They will use this as a chance to seal this series since they would be winning their first game of the women's ODI against India.

Captain missing for this series is the regular team captain, Harmanpreet Kaur. In her absence, for India is the captain, Smriti Mandhana. Earlier, Smriti had been the captain of India once too. But that is the same format. So, Mandhana would look forward to it again, for once as captain. Along with not having a regular skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, India would also be bereft of the best of the fast bowlers with Renuka Singh, out of this contention due to her resting. That should give Mandhana a chance at trying out his team and seeing how much of the talent they have to call upon. Testing New Talents/Players in Positions of Importance

The other notable change going to be Raghvi Bist, who could replace Harmanpreet at No. 4. Raghvi Bist played very well for Uttarakhand and particularly on the way her side travelled in order to get into the final of Senior Women's One Day Trophy.

Raghvi has played very mature innings against Australia A with scores of 82, 70, and 53 respectively, which have now pushed her into the ODI squad of India. It would be a massive opportunity for her to prove herself at the world stage. India would need to replace Renuka Singh in the bowling department.

Still to arrive is Pooja Vastrakar; otherwise, for Saima Thakor, there can be a splitting of new-ball bowling with Titas Sadhu. India would do well also to consider incorporating either Sayali Satghare-a medium pacer-or an additional spinner Tanuja Kanwar. These developments would be providing India an opportunity to reassess their decision at the seamers' position, which is still at the nascent stage, with many cricketers yet to play for the national team and Thakor, Sadhu, and Priya Mishra, who, all added together, have played 20 ODIs only. Ireland's Quest to Break Their Streak of Straight ODI Defeats

In ODIs, Ireland never had an upper hand against India.

All 12 matches are on the winning side for the opposing team, though this is coming after a mixed bag of results during 2024 when they were able to win emphatically against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, apart from that win against England, so it would be all the more to give Ireland a chance to sign off the series with their first ever over India. O the most scoring Irish player in 2024, Orla Prendergast, is all-rounder and can bat and ball simultaneously.

She performed on her date of best score at 122 when she batted first on the first match of ODI when Sri Lanka team was against them and she obtained three wickets. The middle order batting and bowling attack of Ireland would rely on the services of Laura Delany, the elder allrounder who has been in reasonably good form through the Bangladesh series, and skipper Gaby Lewis. Already discussed above is the left-arm spinner Aimee Maguire, who was phenomenal throughout last season by snatching 11 wickets with one which took all the shine as she bowled 5-for to England. Their match will be at the very top. Ireland's first-choice opening pair also has changed.

The young lady who had made her debut against West Indies did not do worse than that in her initial matches with 40, 76 and 18 in her three matches opening with Mandhana. Ousted from the side, Shafali Verma is sublime form in domestic cricket, scoring heavily in the Senior Women's One-Day Trophy and the on-going Senior Women's One Day Challenger Trophy. Brilliant knocks like a 197-run knock kept her in contention for the opening slot. Mandhana confirmed that Shafali is very much part of India's plans for the World Cup as she has shown form. Both look for an opportunity to play from the very opening slot; therefore, this series will be an important test for Rawal to seal her position. Injury Woes and Leadership Mix for Ireland

Another injury blow for Ireland, who will miss the exciting young wicket-keeper-batter Amy Hunter as she recovers from a foot injury. At 19, Hunter has already made an impact in 31 ODIs and topped the team's run-getters list at various stages of the 2024 season. Her replacement will be Joanna Loughran, but Ireland will look excitedly to a mix of veterans and young guns for this series against India with Lewis, Delany, and Prendergast.

A New Ground and Preparation for the World Cup

India, for this series is going to be pretty crucial because it would be playing at a new venue, the Niranjan Shah Stadium of Rajkot for the first time.

The team has been playing at different venues to get exposed to different conditions as India prepares for the Women's ODI World Cup, which will be held in India later this year. This is part of the ways through which they prepare and get accustomed to different types of pitches and more conditions as a way of ironing out other aspects of their game ahead of the World Cup. The ODI series against Ireland on January 10, 12, and 15 will act as a building block for India, as it will test the combinations, look at new talent, and be prepared for that high-stakes tournament later in 2025.