Women’s T20 World Cup: Harmanpreet fit to play against Pakistan; injured Smriti doubtful, says coach Kanitkar

Cape Town: On the eve of India’s opening match in the Womens T20 World Cup against Pakistan, batting coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar said captain Harmanpreet Kaur is fit to play in Sundays highly-anticipated game.

At the same time, Kanitkar also mentioned that vice-captain and left-handed opener Smriti Mandhana is ‘most likely’ going to miss out on India’s tournament opener due to a finger injury which is not related to fracture.

“So Harman is fit to play tomorrow. Smriti has got a finger injury. So, she is still recovering and most likely, she won’t play tomorrow. Harman has batted for the last two days — today and yesterday. So, she is fine. We believe Smriti will play the next game, it’s a finger injury, she will be fine for the next game,” the coach said in the pre-match press conference on Saturday.

Harmanpreet had missed both the warm-up matches of India against Australia and Bangladesh after having some concerns with her left shoulder during the tri-series final against South Africa in East London. Smriti, on the other hand, is believed to have picked a finger injury in the warm-up matches.

With a historic victory in the ICC Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup coming in South Africa last month, Harmanpreet & Co would be motivated to go one step further from their runners-up finish in the 2020 T20 World Cup and get their hands on the trophy in 2023.

After facing Pakistan, India will square off against 2009 champions England, 2016 winners West Indies, and Ireland in the group stage of the competition.

–IANS