Will Smriti Mandhana play today’s match in Women’s T20 World Cup 2023?

India Women went into their opening match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 match against Pakistan Women on Sunday, February 12, without Smriti Mandhana. The vice-captain was ruled out of the big game due to a finger injury.

Despite Mandhana’s absence, India Women went on to clinch the game against Pakistan Women at Newlands in Cape Town by seven wickets, registering their highest successful chase in the tournament and the second-highest ever in the Women’s T20 World Cup.

India Women will now take on West Indies Women at Newlands in Cape Town on Wednesday, February 15. The big question for the Women in Blue ahead of the match is whether Mandhana will be available for the game. On the eve of the match, India’s bowling coach Troy Cooley asserted:

“Yeah, she’s been working very hard. It’ll obviously be assessed after today. She did everything [that] was needed to be done today and from us, we’ll look at how she pulls up. But we’re pretty confident. She got through the session today and did everything she needed to do.”

India Women will be confident heading into the clash against West Indies Women. After losing the toss against Pakistan, they conceded 149/4 as captain Bismah Maroof (68* off 45) and Ayesha Naseem (43* off 25) added an unbroken 81 runs for the fifth-wicket partnership.

Jemimah Rodrigues (53* off 38), Richa Ghosh (31* off 20), and Shafali Verma (33 off 25), however, starred in the record chase for India Women as they got home with an over to spare.

West Indies, on the other hand, went down to England by seven wickets in their first match of the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023. They were held to 135/7 batting first, a target England chased down in 14.3 overs.

---

Smriti Mandhana is ranked No. 3 in the ICC Women’s T20I rankings

India Women's vice-captain Mandhana is at No. 3 in the ICC Women’s T20I rankings for batters. Only the Australian duo of Tahlia McGrath and Beth Mooney are above the 26-year-old in the format.

The left-handed batter is a highly experienced cricketer, having played 112 T20Is, scoring 2651 runs at an average of 27.32 at a strike rate of 123.13.