India Women Name Squads for Zimbabwe Series: Smriti Mandhana Captains, Shafali Verma T20I Vice-Captain, Deepti Sharma ODI Vice-Captain

The BCCI Women's Selection Committee has announced India Women's squads for the home series against Zimbabwe, with Smriti Mandhana leading the side in both formats in her first assignment as captain. Shafali Verma has been named vice-captain for the T20I series, while Deepti Sharma is vice-captain for the ODI series. The squads were named on October 6, hours after Harmanpreet Kaur stepped down as captain across formats.

The two squads are not identical. Here is the T20I squad:

• Smriti Mandhana (c), Shafali Verma (vc), Niki Prasad, Harmanpreet Kaur, Anushka Sharma
• Richa Ghosh (wk), G Kamalini (wk), Deepti Sharma, Prema Rawat
• Sree Charani, Nandni Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Arundhati Reddy, Jintimani Kalita, Minnu Mani

And the ODI squad:

• Smriti Mandhana (c), Shafali Verma, Pratika Rawal, Harmanpreet Kaur, Harleen Deol, Tejal Hasabnis
• Deepti Sharma (vc), Richa Ghosh (wk), Yastika Bhatia (wk)
• Vaishnavi Sharma, Nandni Sharma, Sree Charani, Kranti Gaud, Sayali Satghare, Renuka Thakur

The biggest change in the T20I group is that Pratika Rawal has been left out. Four players have been brought in, Niki Prasad, Minnu Mani, Anushka Sharma and Jintimani Kalita, all of whom featured in the recent limited-overs and multi-day series against Australia Women. The ODI side, meanwhile, includes Vaishnavi Sharma, who recently took a six-wicket haul against Australia Women's A, along with Tejal Hasabnis and Sayali Satghare.

Harmanpreet remains in both squads as a player, which gives the new captain an experienced batter to lean on during the transition. Among the notable names missing from both squads is Jemimah Rodrigues. Shafali's role is also different in the two formats. She is the deputy in T20Is but plays in the ODI team without a leadership role.

This will be the first-ever bilateral series between India and Zimbabwe women, and Zimbabwe's first tour of India. The three T20Is will be played in Raipur, followed by three ODIs in Baroda. The ODI leg forms part of the ICC Women's Championship 2025-29. It will also be India's first home ODI assignment since the 2025 World Cup triumph.