Smriti Mandhana doubtful for big T20 World Cup clash against Pakistan

Cape Town, Feb 11  India are likely to suffer a major blow before the start of their ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 opener, with their key batter Smriti Mandhana doubtful to feature in the big clash against arch-rivals, Pakistan, on Sunday.
Mandhana is highly likely to miss the side’s first match with injury. Mandhana suffered a finger injury during India’s warm-up game against Australia on Monday, wherein she was dismissed for a duck in the side’s 44-run defeat. She didn’t feature in India’s 52-run win in the second warm-up game against Bangladesh on Wednesday.
“Smriti has got a finger injury, she is still recovering. Most likely, she won’t play tomorrow,” coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar confirmed in a press conference on Saturday.
“It’s just a finger injury, she will be fine before the next game,” he added.
Mandhana, ranked third in the latest ICC Women’s T20I Batting Rankings, has been one of India’s most prolific run-scorers across formats, her aggregate of 2651 T20I runs only being bettered by skipper Harmanpreet Kaur among India batters.
The left-hander was an integral member in India’s runners-up finish at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia, and has been in fine form since, having aggregated 935 runs at 32.24 with eight fifties since the tournament, the most for anyone in the format.
India are placed alongside England, West Indies, Pakistan and Ireland in Group B, with the top two teams from the group progressing through to the semi-finals.
India squad for ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia, Richa Ghosh, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Devika Vaidya, Radha Yadav, Renuka Thakur, Anjali Sarvani, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shikha Pandey.
Reserves: Sabbhineni Meghana, Sneh Rana, Meghna Singh.