Mandhana named captain as India announce women’s squads for Zimbabwe series; Shafali & Deepti vice-captains

Shafali Verma and Deepti Sharma were on Tuesday named vice-captains for India’s T20I and ODI squads respectively, with both set to serve as deputies to newly-appointed captain Smriti Mandhana for the home series against Zimbabwe.

The changes in India’s leadership group followed Harmanpreet Kaur’s decision to step down as captain across formats. While announcing her decision on social media, Harmanpreet vowed to continue as a player and was named in both the T20I and ODI squads for the series.

India will take on Zimbabwe in a three-match T20 series to be played at Raipur on October 16, 18, and 20.

The three-match ODI series will be played at Vadodara on October 23, 25, and 28.

The T20I squad saw Pratika Rawal being left out, while Niki Prasad, Minnu Mani, Anushka Sharma and Jintimani Kalita were drafted in. All four had featured in the recent limited-overs and multi-day series against Australia Women.

The ODI squad will have Rawal and Harleen Deol in the middle order, while Jemimah Rodrigues, who also missed the Women’s T20 Asia Cup and the Asian Games, remains on the sidelines after suffering a hamstring injury earlier in August.

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The ODI side will also include Vaishnavi Sharma, who recently took a six-wicket haul against Australia Women’s A, as well as Tejal Hasabnis and Sayali Satghare.

Squads:

For T20Is: Smriti Mandhana (c), Shafali Verma (vc), Niki Prasad, Harmanpreet Kaur, Anushka Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), G Kamalini (wk), Deepti Sharma, Prema Rawat, Sree Charani, Nandani Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Arundhati Reddy, Jintimani Kalita, Minnu Mani.

For ODIs: Smriti Mandhana (c), Shafali Verma, Pratika Rawal, Harmanpreet Kaur, Harleen Deol, Tejal Hasabnis, Deepti Sharma (vc), Richa Ghosh (wk), Yastika Bhatia (wk), Vaishnavi Sharma, Nandani Sharma, Sree Charani, Kranti Gaud, Sayali Satghare, Renuka Thakur.