India women's cricket team, led by a sensational batting performance from Smriti Mandhana, won the three-match ODI series against South Africa Women with a 2-1 score. The battle now takes place in the Twenty 20 format.
Harmanpreet Kaur is the captain for the India Women's cricket team in the T20Is.
21-year-old Smriti scored a total of 219 runs in the first two ODI matches but failed in the 3rd one as she got out on a duck. Mithali Raj's women army also lost the last ODI, and it gave Dane van Niekerk's women the momentum entering the five-match T20I series, starting Tuesday February 13.
Nontheless, India will be confident after the ODI series win. Notably, the Women in Blue defeated their South African counterparts by 16 runs in their only previous T20I meeting in November 2014 at Bengaluru.
India have suffered a big blow as fast bowler Jhulan Goswami has been ruled out of the series with a foot injury. The 35-year-old veteran cricketer, whose biopic is named 'Chakdaha Express', made history during the ODI series by becoming the first woman cricketer in the world to pick up a total of 200 ODI wickets.
Update: Senior India bowler Jhulan Goswami has been ruled out of the T20I series against SA Women. Ms Goswami suffered a heel injury and underwent an MRI scan on Monday and has been advised rest for a couple of weeks.
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) February 13, 2018
T20I squads
India Women: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana, Mithali Raj, Veda Krishnamurthy, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Anuja Patil, Taniya Bhatia, Nuzhat Parween, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav.
South Africa Women: Dane van Niekerk (C), Marizanne Kapp, Trisha Chetty, Shabnim Ismail, Ayabonga Khaka, Masabata Klaas, Sune Luus, Odine Kirsten, Mignon du Preez, Lizelle Lee, Chloe Tryon, Nadine de Klerk, Raisibe Ntozakhe, Moseline Daniels.
1st T20I: South Africa Women vs India Women
Date: February 12
Time: 1 pm local (4:30 pm IST)
Venue: Senwes Park, Potchefstroom
No TV broadcast in India
Live streaming: YouTube
Live scores, updates: HERE
