Former Test Opener Shiv Sunder Das Appointed India Women's Team Batting Coach

Former India opener Shiv Sunder Das has been appointed as the batting coach of the senior India women's cricket team. He would help the team in preparing for the upcoming tour of England starting June 16. Abhay Sharma, former Delhi wicketkeeper, has been named the fielding coach of the women's side.

Das, who has played 23 Tests between 2000-02, will be a part of nine-member support team posted under head coach Ramesh Powar, reported ESPNcricinfo. Das boasts of more than 1300 runs with an average of near 35, including two hundreds and nine half-centuries. He had previously worked with the India women's A team. "This is the first time I have been assigned a job with the India women's national team, so it's a quite exciting time for me," the 43-year-old former Odisha skipper said.

Saying that he is really looking forward to the tour and gather more experience, the newly-appointed batting coach said that it will be a good "challenge" for him. He elaborated that while he has only toured England as a player and played a lot of league cricket, this time he will be the coach and that's a new journey to look forward to. He further added that he is familiar with the conditions and it will be nice to add value to the team. His prime focus would only be on the England tour and to use his  experience of playing in England. He was also attached to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore.

Shiv Sunder Das batting coach for Indian women who will play a Test, 3 ODIs and as many T20Is in England between June 16 and July 15.

He has been hired to work with the team's staff and help them solve the technical problems of the batters.

Congratulating the batsman, former India women's cricket team coach WV Raman tweeted that she believed Das will be "extremely useful" as the batting coach of the side during the upcoming tour.

Gather that SS Das is a part of the coaching staff on the tour of England..He will be extremely useful.. Good luck Dassy... #bcciwomen

— WV Raman (@wvraman) May 17, 2021

On May 13, Ramesh Powar replaced Raman as the head coach of the national women's cricket team. Powar had earlier served between July 2018 to November 2018 on the same post. Read more on that here.

Feature Image Credit: Sportskeeda