Newly appointed India captain Smriti Mandhana said former skipper Harmanpreet Kaur’s experience and leadership would be vital in guiding younger players as the Indian women’s cricket team begins a new era under her captaincy, with the three-match T20I series against Zimbabwe starting Friday, marking her first assignment in the role. Following Harmanpreet Kaur’s stepping down as captain, Team India will begin the ‘Smriti Era’ during the three T20Is and ODIs against Zimbabwe at home.
Mandhana said the six T20Is against Zimbabwe and South Africa will be crucial for India to identify their style of play, assess player roles and draw key lessons ahead of the ICC Women’s Champions Trophy 2027 on home soil in February next year, with the WPL also scheduled before the tournament.
Mandhana said Harmanpreet’s experience as India’s former captain and her approach to match preparation would inspire younger players, adding that her presence would be crucial in helping them learn and develop.
Smriti had a fine Asian Games 2026 campaign, where Team India defended their gold medal under Harmanpreet, which turned out to be her last assignment as skipper as she stepped down just days later after the triumph. India beat Sri Lanka in the final by 147 runs, and Mandhana top-scored for India with 79 runs off 45 balls. In all, she scored 116 runs in two innings during the Asian Games tournament.
Because when you step into this role, you have a job to do, you have to deliver, never thought of leading the team, but again, it’s a big responsibility.
So, it’s going to be extremely important to have her around the youngsters for them to also groom in a way where sometimes it happens a year or two earlier when you watch someone and start learning from them,” she said. I’ve been in the leadership group for a while now, but I definitely had written down a roadmap every time,” she said while speaking on JioStar. So yeah, there will be a lot of takeaways from this series as well,” she said.
“She’s led India, she’s the longest-serving captain, and has been such a great leader. So I’m sure that her experience, especially with a lot of youngsters coming into the team now, and the way she works towards the game, is going to be inspiring for a lot of people. And I hope they actually watch her, the way she goes about preparing for the game, and learn and take a lot of things from her. “Personally, it’s a huge honour to represent a country where cricket is almost a religion. In a way, you always start playing cricket to play and win matches for India. I always say this, that though the captain’s name is first on the list, you’re always the last on the list in terms of keeping everyone ahead. Of course, before that, the WPL will happen, but as an Indian team, three here and the three against South Africa for us to take it forward. So, it’s going to be extremely important to see what style of cricket you want to play, what brand of cricket you want to play, and who’s fitting where.
“In the T20 format, we have six matches before the Champions Trophy.
