Mandhana takes over as India captain, Niki earns call-up for Zimbabwe series

Smriti Mandhana will begin her tenure as India’s full-time captain against Zimbabwe in the home series later this month. The 29-year-old was appointed as the new skipper as the BCCI and selectors decided to move on from Harmanpreet Kaur as captain.

The 37-year-old took to social media to announce that she is stepping down as captain on Tuesday. Hours later, Mandhana was named the new captain with the new squad that was picked by the selection committee.

While the three T20Is and ODIs mark a new era in Indian women’s game, the series will also see youngsters like Niki Prasad earn a potential debut. She and Minnu Mani were picked on the back of the stellar show during the India A versus Australia A series. Meanwhile, Shreyanka Patil, who was a part of the Asian Games gold-medal-winning team, unfortunately missed out despite not having done much wrong during the continental event in Japan.

Mandhana will have Shafali Verma as deputy in T20Is while Deepti Sharma will be the vice-captain in the series. But it remains to be seen who holds the position once Jemimah Rodrigues returns from injury. The T20Is will be played in Raipur from October 16-20 before the tourney moves to Vadodara for the ODIs from October 22.

T20I Squad: Smriti Mandhana [C], Shafali Verma [VC], Niki Prasad, Harmanpreet Kaur, Anushka Sharma, Richa Ghosh [WK], G Kamalini [WK], Deepti Sharma, Prema Rawat, Sree Charani, Nandni Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Arundhati Reddy, Jintimani Kalita, Minnu Mani.

ODI Squad: Smriti Mandhana [C], Shafali Verma, Pratika Rawal, Harmanpreet Kaur, Harleen Deol, Tejal Hasabnis, Deepti Sharma [VC], Richa Ghosh [WK], Yastika Bhatia [WK], Vaishnavi Sharma, Nandni Sharma, Sree Charani, Kranti Gaud, Sayali Satghare, Renuka Thakur.