Mithali, Harmanpreet remain ODI and T20 captains; Veda Krishnamurthy dropped

Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur were on December 21 retained as captains for the Indian women's ODI and T20 team respectively while out-of-form Veda Krishnamurthy was dropped from both the squads picked for the New Zealand tour beginning next month. India will play three ODIs in New Zealand beginning January 24 as part of the ICC Women's Championship before playing three T20 Internationals.

The New Zealand tour will be the team's first assignment after its controversial exit from the World T20 last month when it lost to England in the semi-finals. The 15-member squad for ODIs and T20s was announced a day after WV Raman was appointed as the head coach.

Gary Kirsten was ahead of Raman in the pecking order but the former India men's coach was not ready to give up on his role with Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL. The BCCI had invited fresh applications after Ramesh Powar's term ended on November 30, following the World T20 loss in which he and Harmanpreet had collectively decided to drop senior player Mithali for the all-important semifinal, triggering a massive controversy.

The women's team stood divided with Harmanpreet and her T20 deputy Smriti Mandhana backing Powar for an extension while Mithali was against such a move. However, both Harmanpreet and Mithali had agreed on sorting out their differences going forward.