Newly appointed captain Smriti Mandhana said on Wednesday that despite winning the ODI World Cup, the team still needs to work hard in the shortest format, with the inaugural edition of the Women’s Champions Trophy set to be held early next year.
India will host the six-team T20 tournament from February 14 to 28 at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium and the BCA Stadium in Vadodara.
Mandhana is set to lead India in her first assignment as full-time captain when the hosts take on Zimbabwe in a three-match T20I series starting here on Friday, followed by three ODIs in Vadodara. She took charge from Harmanpreet Kaur.
“The first bilateral (series) with Zimbabwe, I think, is very exciting. It is our first time playing with them. Sometimes, playing with Zimbabwe and all the Associate nations, it feels like you can learn a lot from them as well because they enjoy playing their cricket,” Mandhana told reporters.
“Sometimes, we get into a lot of things professionally. You can learn a lot from them. But again, we have six T20 matches before the Champions Trophy as an Indian team, so we will look to set standards as an Indian team (as to) how we approach the next three months leading up to the Champions Trophy,” Mandhana added.
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Mandhana also praised the new players who have come into the side, despite thinking there are a lot of areas for the team to work on. “I think we have got exciting players. Anushka (Sharma) and Niki (Prasad), who have done really well in India A, and of course G. Kamalini, who was No. 3 in the Asian Games,” said Mandhana
Since she has been the vice-captain of the team for almost 10 years, taking on the responsibility of full-time captain won’t be an entirely new challenge. She also hopes that the captaincy won’t affect her batting.
“You always take that responsibility, and those things have never changed. If the ball is in the zone, I will still go for it. I will still play whatever (way) the team needs (me) to,” Mandhana believes.
The day before Harmanpreet Kaur stepped down as captain, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia, Amol Mazumdar, as well as the former and current captains, were part of a review meeting to determine what the direction of Indian cricket will be.
Published on Oct 14, 2026