Women’s T20 World Cup: Smriti Mandhana likely to play against West Indies today

Explosive opener Smriti Mandhana is likely to feature in India’s playing XI for their tie against West Indies in the T20 Women’s World Cup. The match will be played at Newlands today.

India’s bowling coach Troy Cooley made the announcement about Smriti’s chances of featuring in the clash while speaking ahead of the all-important match on Wednesday.

“Yeah, Smriti has been working very hard. She did everything that was needed to be done today to prove her fitness. We’ll look at how she pulls up. But we are pretty confident that she will play today’s match,” said Cooley.

India’s top batter Smriti had missed the Women in Blue’s opening encounter against the arch-rivals Pakistan due to a finger injury. Smriti’s return to the Indian team for the clash against the formidable West Indies side will certainly bolster the Women in Blue.

Experienced Smriti currently holds the No.3 spot in the World Women’s T20 batters ranking list. The flamboyant batter has so far played 112 T20Is, scoring 2651 runs at an average of 27.32 and a strike rate of 123.13. 

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have recently bought Smriti with a whooping sum of Rs 3.4 crore for the upcoming Women’s Premier League. As per team sources, Mandhana is all set to be captain of the team as well.

Notably, India had a splendid start to their Women’s T20 World Cup campaign as they got the better of Pakistan by seven wickets in their campaign opener.