Smriti Mandhana To Lead India In England T20Is

Smriti Mandhana is all set to make her captaincy debut for India in the upcoming three-match T20I series against England. The star opener, who is the vice-captain of the T20I side, will take charge of the team as regular skipper Harmanpreet Kaur has been ruled out of the series because of an ankle injury.

India and England are currently involved in the three-match ODI series in Mumbai. The hosts have already sealed the series after winning the first two games comprehensively.

Mandhana, meanwhile, is not new to captaincy. The left-handed player, who has played 106 games for India so far, has led her state side Maharashtra, West Zone, and India Blue to the Challenger Trophy title in January 2018. Most recently, she led the Board President’s XI against England in a warm-up game at the Wankhede Stadium.

Meanwhile, India have recalled middle-order batter Veda Krishnamurthy for the series. Krishnamurthy had missed the tour of England after her poor show at the World T20. Left-arm fast bowler Komal Zanzad was named in place of Mansi Joshi while Harleen Deol and Bharati Fulmali replaced Priya Punia and D Hemalatha respectively. Punia had a series to forget in New Zealand where she managed just nine runs in three innings. Hemalatha too had a forgettable tour, making a 32-ball 13 in her only outing with the bat. She remained wicketless across formats. Mithali Raj has been named in the squad too. Mithali’s T20I future has been subject of much debate in recent times.

India, meanwhile, will be looking to do well in the upcoming series after their poor show in New Zealand. Harmanpreet Kaur & Co. had lost all the three games of the series. But with the momentum on their side now, they would be looking to get back to winning ways against England.

The T20I series is set to begin on March 4 in Guwahati. The second and third T20I will also be played at the same venue on March 7 and 10 respectively.

India women’s T20I squad:

Smriti Mandhana (captain), Mithali Raj, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia (wicketkeeper), Bharti Fulmali, Anuja Patil, Shikha Pandey, Komal Zanzad, Arundhati Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Radha Yadav, Veda Krishnamurty, Harleen Deol