Harmanpreet Kaur ruled out of tomorrow’s first T20I against South Africa; Smriti Mandhana to take over captaincy duties
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Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana
Following the 4-1 loss in the ODI series against the South African Women, the Indian Women would want to come up with a much better showing in the T20I series. The three-match T20I series will take place at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. The series begins with the first match tomorrow which will be followed by matches on the 21st and 23rd of March.
India were below-par for most of the ODI series as they could only manage to win the second match. While the batters contributed in almost every match and with Mithali Raj crossing a plethora of milestones during the course of the series, the bowlers could not come up with match-winning performances to peg back the South African women who looked in terrific touch with the bat throughout the series.
Smriti Mandhana confirms Harmanpreet Kaur’s injury
Meanwhile, in what could be a big blow to India’s hopes of drawing first blood in the T20I series and potentially going on to win the series as well, captain Harmanpreet Kaur has been ruled out of the first T20I with an injury. The hip-flexor injury was suffered during the fifth ODI which took place on Wednesday when Kaur was in the midst of a promising partnership with Mithali Raj before the injury forced her to retire out.
Smriti Mandhana will take over captaincy duties from Harmanpreet Kaur and she confirmed the same to the press in a virtual conference saying, “She has been ruled out of tomorrow’s match and rest of the updates on her injury will be given by the medical team and the team management. It will be better for them to speak about it rather than me.”
The first T20I begins tomorrow at 7 PM IST.
Also Read: India vs England 2021: T Natarajan returns to team after passing fitness test
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