Smriti Mandhana began her full-time India captaincy reign with a nervy four-wicket win against the visiting Zimbabwe in Raipur on Friday.

While the southpaw herself couldn’t dazzle with the bat, scoring just nine off six, it was all-rounder Deepti Sharma’s 49 and debutant Niki Prasad’s unbeaten 39 which guided the Women in Blue over the line.

Smriti took over the leadership role from Harmanpreet Kaur after the latter announced her decision to step down as India captain across all formats earlier this month.

This is the first time that India and Zimbabwe are meeting in a bilateral series in women’s cricket.

Smriti Mandhana T20I captaincy record

Before the first of the three-match series, Smriti had captained a few T20Is in the past while Harmanpreet Kaur was the full-time captain across formats. Here’s a look at the opener’s captaincy record in the shortest format thus far:

• Matches as captain: 19

• Wins: 12

• Biggest win: India beat UAE by 104 runs (Asia Cup 2022)

• Losses: 6

• Biggest loss: India lost to West Indies by nine wickets (2024)

• Win percentage: 63.15

Published on Oct 17, 2026