Why Smriti Mandhana is not playing today’s match

India Women have gone into their opening match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 against Pakistan without their vice-captain and opening batter Smriti Mandhana.

The 26-year-old prolific batter was ruled out of the key clash on the eve of the match due to a finger injury. Coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar confirmed to the media that Mandhana does not have a fracture. As such, she is likely to be available from India Women’s second match onwards, against West Indies on Wednesday, February 15.

In Mandhana’s absence, Yastika Bhatia is likely to partner Shafali Verma at the top of the order. Speaking at the toss, India Women’s captain Harmanpreet Kaur asserted that Mandhana should be fine for the next match. She said:

“She (Smriti Mandhana) will be fine but we have added an extra batter for today - Harleen in there, Shikha misses out.”

Pakistan Women won the toss and elected to bat first in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 match against India, which is being played at Newlands in Cape Town on Sunday, February 12. Speaking after winning the toss, Pakistan captain Bismah Maroof said:

“We'd like to bat first. It is a dry wicket, won't change much so we'd like to put up a total.”

On Diana Baig’s absence, she added:

“It is unlucky she is not here with us, but this is an opportunity for someone else to perform. We have the confidence because we won against India last time but conditions are different here.”

On having to bowl first in the match, Harmanpreet commented:

“We wanted to bat because these wickets are a bit tricky. I think these wickets will help us.”

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India Women vs Pakistan Women Playing XIs

India Women: Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Richa Ghosh (w), Deepti Sharma, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Renuka Thakur Singh.

Pakistan Women: Javeria Khan, Muneeba Ali (w), Bismah Maroof (c), Nida Dar, Sidra Ameen, Aliya Riaz, Ayesha Naseem, Fatima Sana, Aiman Anwer, Nashra Sandhu, Sadia Iqbal

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Smriti Mandhana T20I stats

Mandhana has played 112 T20Is for India Women, scoring 2651 runs at an average of 27.32 and a strike rate of 123.13, with 20 half-centuries to her name.