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Indian batter Smriti Mandhana had her first training day as the team's all-format captain ahead of the first T20I against Zimbabwe, with the series starting from October 16 onwards in Raipur.
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. Smriti, a two-time Women's Premier League (WPL) winner with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) as captain, has enjoyed immense success and records this year. The official Instagram handle of the Indian Cricket Team posted a video of Smriti having a batting session in the nets and a look of the entire training session as a captain. https://www.instagram.com/p/Dea5Tk8z1Km/ 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. The past few tournaments and matches have etched Mandhana's name in history as she currently stands as the leading T20I run-scorer in women's cricket and also the woman with the most international runs and centuries. In 179 T20Is, she has scored 4,867 runs at an average of 31.00 and a strike rate of over 127, with two centuries and 37 fifties. She has enjoyed a rich run in T20Is this year, with 765 runs in 22 matches and 21 innings at an average of 38.25 and a strike rate of 148.25, with a century and five fifties, including a best score of 124. Overall, in international cricket, she has made 11,066 runs across 308 appearances, with 18 centuries, joint-most by a batter alongside South Africa's Laura Wolvaardt. (ANI)
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