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New Delhi: The Indian cricket team, which is going to take the field with the hopes of becoming the world champion for the first time, has suffered a tremendous setback even before the start of its campaign in the Women’s T20 World Cup. Indian team’s vice-captain and veteran opener Smriti Mandhana has been ruled out of the first match of the tournament due to injury. Team India will face arch-rivals Pakistan in their first match on Sunday, February 12. A day before the match, the team’s interim coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar told this shocking news.
Smriti Mandhana was injured during the practice match played before the start of the tournament. Smriti suffered a finger injury during the practice match against Australia, from which she is yet to fully recover. Due to this, she will not be able to play in the first match of the World Cup. India and Pakistan will compete in Cape Town on Sunday.
The coach made this disclosure in the press conference of Team India on Saturday, February 11, before the match on Sunday. Apart from Smriti, there was also doubt about the fitness of captain Harmanpreet Kaur. He suffered a shoulder injury during the tri-series a few days back but is fit. Coach Kanitkar said, “Harman is fit to play. He has batted in the nets for the last two days. He is fine. Smriti has a finger injury and it is almost impossible for her to play.
Smriti’s injury is a big blow for Team India because not only is she India’s biggest batsman, but her performance in big tournaments has also been tremendous. However, it is a matter of relief that he is expected to be fit before the second match. Kanitkar said, “She does not have a fracture and we are hopeful that she will be available from the second match.” Team India has to play its second match against West Indies on Wednesday, 15 February.
Team India’s vice-captain has played 8 T20 matches against Pakistan so far, in which 187 runs have come out of his bat. This includes a half-century. Last year itself, Smriti played an excellent inning of 63 runs against Pakistan during the Commonwealth Games and won the team.
The tournament started from 10 February
The ICC T20 Women’s World Cup has started from 10 February. India and Pakistan teams are in the same group in this tournament. Apart from India-Pakistan in Group B, there are teams from England, Ireland and West Indies. Whereas in Group A, host South Africa, Australia, Bangladesh, New Zealand and Sri Lanka have been placed. The teams of India and Pakistan will play the match on 12 February. This match will be played at Newlands, Cape Town from 6:30 pm.
The final match will be played on February 26
A total of 23 matches will be played in this tournament among 10 teams. The final match of the tournament will be played on February 26 at Newlands, Cape Town. In the recently played Under-19 T20 World Cup, the Indian team won, in such a situation, the fans are going to expect a similar game from the senior team as well.
Indian team squad for T20 World Cup
Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Richa Ghosh, Jemima Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Devika Vaidya, Radha Yadav, Renuka Thakur, Anjali Sarwani, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gaikwad, Shikha Pandey.
