Nottingham [UK], June 28 : Indian Women's Cricket Team captain Harmanpreet Kaur has been rested for the first T20I against England Women in Nottingham on Saturday as a precautionary measure following a head injury sustained during the T20 Warm-up match against ECB Select XI.
She's being closely monitored by the medical team and is recovering well, as per the BCCI press release.
In the absence of Harmanpreet Kaur, left-hand batter and vice-captain of the Women in Blue, Smriti Mandhana is leading the visitors in the first match of the five-match series.
Speaking about the first T20I at the Trent Bridge, England Women skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt has won the toss and elected to bowl first.
This will be India women's first T20 outing of the year. They currently sit third in the ICC women's T20I rankings, just behind England.
England dominate the head-to-head records with 22 wins from 30 matches, while India have managed eight victories.
The last time the two teams met in a T20 series, England edged India 2-1 at the Wankhede Stadium in 2023. India have never won a bilateral T20 series against England, though their first-ever T20 victory came against the same opponents in 2006 in a one-off match.
Teams:
England Women (Playing XI): Sophia Dunkley, Danielle Wyatt-Hodge, Nat Sciver-Brunt (c), Tammy Beaumont, Amy Jones (wk), Alice Capsey, Sophie Ecclestone, Em Arlott, Lauren Filer, Linsey Smith, Lauren Bell
India Women (Playing XI): Smriti Mandhana (c), Shafali Verma, Harleen Deol, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Amanjot Kaur, Sneh Rana, Radha Yadav, Arundhati Reddy, Shree Charani.