Smriti Mandhana to resume India duties post personal setback, BCCI announces squad for India Women next T20I series

Smriti Mandhana to resume India duties post personal setback

Smriti Mandhana is all set to resume India duties post her personal setback. Mandhana, who is the vice-captain of India women's cricket team, was all set to tie the knot with music composer Palash Muchhal reportedly after being together for six years. However, the wedding, which was planned for November 23 in Sangli, Maharashtra - Mandhana's hometown, was initially postponed and has now been called off as confirmed by the cricketer on Sunday.

Mandhana has also started her training, a picture of which went viral on social media. She will now be seen in action at the upcoming five-match T20I series against Sri Lanka at home, which gets underway from December 21 and run till 30th of this month. The first two games will be played in Visakhapatnam and the last three will be held in Thiruvananthapuram.

This will be the first time the Indian women's team will engage in any international matches post their historic triumph in the recently-concluded World Cup.

Meanwhile, Gunalan Kamalini and Vaishnavi Sharma got their maiden call-ups in the Indian women's team for the series. 17-year-old wicketkeeper-batter Kamalini has featured in nine matches for Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Women's Premier League (WPL). Vaishnavi, 19, was not drafted into the WPL auctions. Kamalini and Vaishnavi came in place of Radha Yadav and Uma Chhetri, who were part of the World Cup-winning squad.

The squad comprises all the familiar names with Harmanpreet Kaur leading the team and Mandhana serving as her deputy. Big-hitting opener Shafali Verma, who replaced Pratika Rawal in the World Cup squad just before the semifinal against Australia after the latter was ruled out of the tournament with an injury, is also part of the team.

The T20I encounters will be followed by WPL 2026, which gets underway from January 9 in Navi Mumbai. The schedule of this bilateral series was announced soon after the white-ball series between India and Bangladesh, which was scheduled to take place this month in India in December, got postponed last month. The last time India and Sri Lanka played a T20I was at the World Cup in October 2024.

India's squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana (vice captain), Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Harleen Deol, Amanjot Kaur, Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud, Renuka Singh Thakur, Richa Ghosh (WK), G Kamalini (WK), Sree Charani, Vaishnavi Sharma