T20 WC: India suffers blow as Smriti Mandhana ruled out of opening tie against Pak

Cape Town (South Africa), February 11: India on Saturday suffered a major blow ahead of their ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023 opener against Pakistan as vice-captain Smriti Mandhana has been ruled out due to a finger injury.

According to sources, the southpaw will miss the team's first game. Mandhana was dismissed for a duck after suffering a finger injury during India's warm-up game against Australia on Monday. India was defeated by 44 runs. She did not play in India's 52-run win over Bangladesh in the second warm-up game on Wednesday.

The match against Pakistan will be played on Sunday in Cape Town and will begin at 6.30 p.m. IST.

"Smriti has got a finger injury, she is still recovering. Most likely, she won't play tomorrow," coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar said.

"It's just a finger injury, she will be fine before the next game," he further said.

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Mandhana, who is currently ranked third in the ICC Women's T20I Batting Rankings, has been one of India's most prolific run-scorers across all formats. Her total of 2,651 T20I runs is only surpassed by skipper Harmanpreet Kaur among India batters.

The left-hander was a key member of India's runner-up finish at the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia, and she has been in excellent form since, accumulating 935 runs at an average of 32.24 and eight fifties, the most for anyone in the format.

India is in Group B with England, West Indies, Pakistan, and Ireland, and the top two teams from the group will advance to the semi-finals.

India squad for ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023 includes 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 are Sabbhineni Meghana, Sneh Rana, Meghna Singh.

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