T20Is: Smriti Mandhana takes charge as India eves eye redemption v South Africa

Smriti Mandhana

The Indian women's team, already low on morale after the 1-4 rout in the ODI series, received a jolt on the eve of the three-match T20I series. Their captain and batting mainstay Harmanpreet Kaur has been ruled out of the first game due to an injury she had suffered while batting during the last ODI against South Africa.

In her absence, Smriti Mandhana will lead the young squad and has a Herculean task when the young brigade take on an experienced South African team in the day-night opener at the Atal Behari Stadium here today.

Judging by the way the Indian women were outplayed in the ODI series, there is little doubt that the home side have their task cut out in the absence of their T20I captain Harmanpreet, who had led the team into the T20 World Cup last year. Besides, two stalwarts, ODI captain Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami are not in the scheme of things as far as T20 is concerned. Thus, the focus will be on the younger lot to make a mark against a team which looks well settled. All the South African players who did so well in the ODI series are part of the T20 team too.

India carry a lot of problems from the ODI series. Stand-in captain Mandhana and batter Jemimah Rodrigues have yet to hit peak form. With the induction of attacking, young opener Shafali Verma, hopefully the team will show resilience and commitment. There is little doubt that Mandhana will have to lead the way, both as a captain and the mainstay of the batting.

On flat pitches, all the five ODI matches were won by the teams winning the toss. Thus, one assumes, in the T20 games under lights, the toss would be even more significant. As of now, it is difficult to say if Harmanpreet will be fit for the second game to be played on Sunday night. There was not much information forthcoming on Harmanpreet.