India women begin a new phase under Smriti Mandhana with a three-match T20 international series against Zimbabwe at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur, according to the Sunday Guardian, Wisden and ANI. The matches are on Friday, 16 October, Sunday, 18 October, and Tuesday, 20 October, each starting at 7 pm IST. IndiaX24 is writing before the first match and does not know the result.
It is the first full series of Mandhana as full-time T20I captain, after IndiaX24 reported that she took over from Harmanpreet Kaur. She has won 11 of her 18 previous T20I matches as captain, according to the Sunday Guardian, a win rate of about 61 per cent, a calculation by IndiaX24. Shafali Verma is the vice-captain.
The series is the first bilateral meeting of the two teams. They had never played each other in a T20 international before, and neither team has recorded a win, tie or no-result against the other, according to the same report. For Zimbabwe, which has named a 15-member squad under Josephine Nkomo, it is the first bilateral series against India, according to ANI.
The India squad has 15 players, according to the Sunday Guardian: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Harmanpreet Kaur, Anushka Sharma, Niki Prasad, Richa Ghosh, G Kamalini, Deepti Sharma, Minnu Mani, Prema Rawat, Sree Charani, Nandni Sharma, Arundhati Reddy, Jintimani Kalita and Kranti Gaud. Another report of the squad lists a different set of names for a few places, so IndiaX24 uses the Sunday Guardian list and notes the difference.
Zimbabwe’s squad is Josephine Nkomo (captain), Sharne Mayers, Nyasha Gwanzura, Michelle Mavunga, Chiedza Dhururu, Modester Mupachikwa, Beloved Biza, Kelis Ndhlovu, Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano, Tendai Makusha, Nomvelo Sibanda, Loryn Phiri, Kudzai Chigora, Olinder Chare and Francisca Chipare, according to the Sunday Guardian. Kelis Ndhlovu scored 320 T20I runs in 2026, according to the same report, which makes her the batter to watch.
India go into the series in good form. They won gold at the Asian Games, according to the Sunday Guardian, and IndiaX24 has reported on the hockey and other successes of the Games. The reports reviewed do not give the women’s cricket team’s results at the Games, so IndiaX24 does not give details.
The matches will be shown on the Star Sports network and JioHotstar in India, on SuperSport in Zimbabwe, and on Willow TV in the United States and Canada, according to the report. All three games are evening matches at the same ground, which means that the same pitch is likely to be used, though the reports reviewed do not give a pitch report.
A three-match series is short, and the reports reviewed do not describe selection issues, such as who will keep wicket between Richa Ghosh and G Kamalini, both of whom are in the squad. IndiaX24 does not predict the playing eleven.
The series also gives Mandhana a chance to set the tone for her captaincy. The reports reviewed do not say what changes she has planned, and an earlier headline from Cricinfo calls the series the start of India’s Mandhana era.
IndiaX24 will report the result of each match.
Image: The Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur, venue of the series (file photo). Photo by VishuN, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.