Women's T20 World Cup: Smriti Mandhana ready to return against West Indies

Indian women's cricket team bowling coach Troy Cooley expects Smriti Mandhana to be a part of the team's match against West Indies in the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023. The 26-year-old Mandhana missed India's opening group match against Pakistan due to a finger injury. India won this match by seven wickets. But India's star opener is all set to make a comeback after a pre-match training session for the match at Newlands.

“She has been working very hard and will be assessed after training, she did everything that needed to be done and we are very confident that she has recovered through the session,” said Cooley. Against Pakistan, in Mandhana's absence, Jemimah Rodrigues scored an unbeaten 53 off 38 balls to give India a seven-wicket win with one over to spare. Coolie expressed happiness over such a start by the Indian team. He also backed Deepti Sharma, who conceded 39 runs in her four overs against Pakistan.

Cooley said, “He bowled three overs in the powerplay and one in the death when only three fielders were outside the circle. Deepti is one of our key players and gobbling up runs is the nature of T20 cricket, but she bowled in high pressure situations and we are sure she will bowl well in the matches ahead." The West Indies are well aware of the danger posed by Deepti, who bowled impressively in two matches in the tri-series between the two sides in January. Sharma took three wickets for 11 runs in his four overs in the first match and two wickets for 29 runs in the second match as India won by 56 runs and eight wickets respectively.