Women begin new chapter without Mithali Raj

Dambulla, June 22

The Indian women’s cricket team will be eyeing a good start under new all-format skipper Harmanpreet Kaur against Sri Lanka in the first T20 International of the three-match series starting here tomorrow.

Women’s T20I series

As a team, there are quite a few areas we are currently working on to improve keeping in mind this series against Sri Lanka. While our core strength is our batting, we are giving extra efforts to improve our fielding Harmanpreet Kaur, India skipper

India will look to begin their campaign on a high, with T20I cricket set to feature in the upcoming Birmingham Commonwealth Games. This will be the first international assignment for India since the disappointment at the 50-over World Cup, played in March-April.

Notably, the Indian team will be without the legendary Mithali Raj — the former skipper retired earlier this month after an illustrious 23-year career. On the personal front, Harmanpreet will be eyeing a milestone. The 33-year-old batter, who has amassed 2,319 runs from 121 matches, needs another 46 runs to eclipse Mithali in the shortest format.

Hosts Sri Lanka, on the other hand, will be looking to put behind their 0-3 loss to Pakistan suffered in their T20I series recently. However, the Indians will have to be vigilant against the likes of Sri Lankan veterans Oshadi Ranasinghe and Chamari Athapaththu.