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India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana is unlikely to feature in India’s opening game of the Women’s T20 World Cup against Pakistan due to a finger injury, coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar confirmed on Saturday.
Kanitkar also added that the vice-captain does not have a fracture, which means Mandhana will likely be available from India’s second game onwards, which is on Wednesday, February 15 against the West Indies.
However, he said that India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur is fit enough to play the first match against Pakistan after suffering from a shoulder niggle during the recently completed tri-series in South Africa.
“So Harman is fit to play tomorrow. Smriti has got a finger injury. So, she is still recovering and most likely, she won’t play tomorrow. Harman has batted for the last two days — today and yesterday. So, she is fine. We believe Smriti will play the next game (against West Indies on February 15), it’s a finger injury, she will be fine for the next match,” Kanitkar said in the pre-match press conference.
Earlier, Harmanpreet had missed India’s both warm-up matches against Australia and Bangladesh after having some concerns with her left shoulder. On the other hand, it has been learnt that Smriti picked up a finger injury while playing in the warm-up matches.
48-year-old Kanitkar, who scored the famous winning runs for India in the 1998 Independence Cup final against Pakistan, feels that India is well prepared ahead of the tournament and is excited to play big matches after being in South Africa since mid-January.
In T20 World Cup, India lost against Pakistan in 2012 and 2016. India also lost to Pakistan by 13 runs in the Women’s Asia Cup last year, in Bangladesh.
“You want to be playing the strong teams, the arch-rivals if you can call them that. Few of them have done it in the past, few haven’t. We are totally prepared for what happens, the atmosphere is good,” Kanitkar said.
“Most of them have played Pakistan in the past, they know what can happen and what the atmosphere is like. One of the privileges of playing international cricket is you play matches like these. Everyone is looking forward to it,” he added.
Interestingly, Sri Lankan spinners shared nine wickets and pulled off a three-run victory over the hosts South Africa in the tournament opener at Newlands on Friday.
Seeing this, India will be hoping their spinners – Deepti Sharma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Radha Yadav, and Devika Vaidya – can do a similar job for them.
“The spinners will have a role. More than the heat, it will be the condition of the pitch. There have been a lot of matches that have taken place here and a lot of T20 cricket has been played here. So, the pitches will help them a lot and yes, that’s a fact.
Pitches in East London were pretty similar to what we get in India, but Cape Town (where India will play the first two matches), I am not sure. I watched the match yesterday (Sri Lanka’s win over South Africa) and the pitch looked good. There was some assistance for spin, but it will make for good cricket,” Kanitkar said.
With a historic win in the ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup coming in South Africa last month along with the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) starting from March 4, Harmanpreet & Co. would be motivated enough to go one step further from their runners-up finish in the previous edition and come out as champions in 2023 T20 World Cup.
Speaking about wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh, who was a member of the U19 Women’s T20 World Cup winning side in South Africa last month, Kanitkar mentioned her as an exciting prospect. Although she didn’t enjoy the best of her form in that competition, Richa gave a reminder of her big-hitting abilities in the second warm-up match against Bangladesh, when she scored a brilliant 91 not out off 56 balls.
“She’s an exciting prospect. She has a good future in front of her. If she continues to work hard and if all those things go well, and she maintains the right attitude which she has, then sky is the limit,” he said.
Kanitkar didn’t reveal much in terms of the team combination that India will be going to start with. Although he didn’t mention whether Shikha Pandey will be in the starting eleven for India’s opening match against Pakistan, he did praise the veteran pacer for her experience and added that she would play a vital role in India’s T20 World Cup campaign.
In the recently concluded tri-series in South Africa, Pandey failed to get a single wicket from her seven overs in three matches. Other pace bowling options for India are Renuka Singh, Pooja Vastrakar and Anjali Sarvani.
“She will play a vital role at some point or the other. Experience does count. Have seen it too many times in the past as well. She is going to make a difference to us. Also, she bats well which many people don’t know. So it works well for us,” he added.
After playing against Pakistan, India will face the West Indies on February 15, followed by England on February 18 and Ireland on February 20 in the group stage matches.
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