A new era will kick off in Indian cricket on Friday (October 16) as Smriti Mandhana will lead the Indian women’s cricket team for the first time as the full-time captain. She replaced Harmanpreet Kaaur as the captain following INdia’s gold medak in at the 2026 Asian Games. Mandhana has captained India on a stand-in basis in the past. India have won all four games under his captanincy. The Women in Blue have 11 wins in 18 matches with Mandhana at the helm.
Harmanpreet has been retained the squad for the Zimbabwe series, but she will now play as a specialist batter. She finished her captaincy career with 30 wins in 51 ODIs.
India ended their ICC title drought under her and won the 2025 ODI World Cup trophy. They won 92 out of 155 T20Is under her. Harmanpreet-led India fell short of winning the 2020 T20 World Cup after losing to Australia in the final. India won four out of five Tests under her captaincy.
Shafali Verma, who made her return during the 2025 ODI World Cup, was appointed the new vice-captain in ODI and T20I formats. Shafali will now be groomed under Mandhana’s captaincy. She plays under Jemimah Rodrigues at Delhi Capitals in IPL.
Telecast and live streaming details
The first T20I between India women and Zimbabwe women will be played in Raipur from 7:00 PM IST. The toss will take place at 6:30 PM IST. The match will have a live telecast on the Star Sports Network. The fans can enjoy the live streaming of the fixture on JioHotstar app.
Squads:
India: Smriti Mandhana (Captain), Shafali Verma, Harmanpreet Kaur, Richa Ghosh, Gunalan Kamalini, Deepti Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, Minnu Mani, Shree Charani, Nandani Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Anushka Sharma, Jintimani Kalita, Niki Prasad, Prema Rawat
Zimbabwe: Josephine Nkomo (Captain), Kelis Ndhlovu, Beloved Biza, Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano, Chiedza Dhururu, Nyasha Gwanzura, Modester Mupachikwa, Sharne Mayers, Loryn Phiri, Francisca Chipare, Kudzai Chigora, Nomvelo Sibanda, Olinder Chare, Michelle Mavunga, Tendai Makusha
