Why Smriti Mandhana is Not Playing Today in IND-W vs SL-W 5th T20I?

India women and Sri Lanka women are clashing against each other in the fifth and final match of the series at the Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram, on Tuesday, December 30. The Women in Blue have already won the series 4-0 and are aiming for a whitewash.

However, during the toss, India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur announced Smriti Mandhana's absence from this dead rubber. Mandhana is the vice-captain of Team India and a key player in all the formats.

Why Smriti Mandhana is Not Playing Today?

India women's star batter Smriti Mandhana is not playing today's match in the IND-W vs SL-W 5th T20I. The reason behind his absence is that the team management decided to give rest to the opening batter.

“Yes, we have two changes today. Smriti and Renuka are resting. Kamalini is going to make her debut, and Sneh Rana is back,” Harmanpreet said during the toss.

As Smriti Mandhana isn't playing today, she will be back in action in the upcoming Women's Premier League (WPL), where she will be leading the defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru Women, starting on January 9.

Smriti Mandhana replacement for this match is G Kamalini, who has shown glimpses of her talent. Kamalini had a brilliant campaign in the ICC Women's U19 T20 World Cup and has all the qualities to become one of the best women's wicket keepers in the in future.

Smriti Mandhana's Performance in the Series

Smriti Mandhana is regarded as one of the best women cricketers of all time. However, she had a hard time recently after her wedding was cancelled with Indian singer Palash Muchhal. The left-handed batter had a mixed outing in the four matches she played in the series. In the first three matches, Mandhana managed to score 25, 14, and 1, respectively. However, she finally produced a great performance in the fourth match, where she scored 80 runs and was even named Player of the Match.

During the match, Mandhana also became the fastest to cross 10,000 runs in women's international cricket. Mandhana took just 281 matches to reach the milestone, surpassing the former legendary India women's cricketer Mithali Raj. It would be interesting to see her performance in the upcoming WPL season.