Womens T20 WC | Smriti Mandhana ruled out from Pakistan game due to finger injury
India’s vice-captain Smriti Mandhana will miss the team’s opening fixture against Pakistan in the Women’s T20 World Cup after sustaining a finger injury. However, the injury isn’t much severe and the Indian opener might return to the squad for the fixture against West Indies on February 15.
India are all set to start their campaign in the Women’s T20 World Cup against Pakistan on February 12 from 6:30 PM IST. The team will be aiming to win their maiden ICC event this time around with the inclusion of some world-class batters like Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur. However, they have suffered a blow ahead of the opening game against Pakistan with Mandhana ruled out of the match due to a finger injury. However, the stand-in coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar has revealed that there is no fracture and so the start batter is likely to return for the game against West Indies.
"Smriti has a finger injury and is still recovering, so she won't play most-likely. It's not a fracture and we're hopeful she will be available from the second game onwards,” Kanitkar stated in the pre-match press conference.
The games between India and Pakistan always get a lot of hype and the players have to face immense pressure in the fixtures. However, Kanitkar stated that the team includes players who had the experience of playing against Pakistan and will be ready to put their bets on the field.
"You want to be playing the strong teams, the arch-rivals if you can call them that. Few of them have done it in the past, few haven't. We are totally prepared for what happens, the atmosphere is good,” he remarked.
"Most of them have played Pakistan in the past, they know what can happen and what the atmosphere is like. One of the privileges of playing international cricket is you play matches like these. Everyone is looking forward to it."
Richa Ghosh has been one of the emerging stars of India with the bat in recent times. She was a prolific run-scorer in the recent series against Australia at home and also played some brilliant knocks in the Under-19 World Cup. The team would expect her to continue playing the role of a superb finisher. Knaitkar stated that Ghosh is an exciting prospect and will surely rise to fame very soon.
"She's an exciting prospect. She has a good future in front of her. If she continues to work hard and if all those things go well, and she maintains the right attitude which she has, then the sky is the limit,” he explained.
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