Smriti Mandhana to begin full-time India captaincy with Zimbabwe series as Champions Trophy build-up

Smriti Mandhana will begin her tenure as India's full-time captain in India on Friday when the hosts start a three-match T20I series against Zimbabwe as part of preparations for the inaugural Women's Champions Trophy early next year. The series is the opening assignment of a schedule that also includes three ODIs at home and a subsequent multi-format tour of South Africa.

India will host Zimbabwe for three T20Is followed by three ODIs before travelling to South Africa for a multi-format tour, fixtures Mandhana intends to use to establish her leadership style and to test combinations ahead of the Champions Trophy. The bilateral meeting with Zimbabwe is the first between the two countries, a fact Mandhana flagged with reporters: "The first bilateral (series) with Zimbabwe, I think, it is very exciting. It is our first time playing with them."

Mandhana identified the six T20 matches before the Champions Trophy as a specific preparation window, saying: "But again, we have 6 T20 matches before the Champions Trophy as an Indian team so, we will look to set standards as an Indian team (as to) how do we approach the next 3 months leading up to the Champions Trophy." She said the upcoming fixtures will allow India to set approaches and fine-tune personnel for the shortest format.

The new captain also highlighted the value of facing teams outside the traditional international cohort, noting different perspectives that can emerge from such encounters and the enthusiasm Associate nations bring. "Sometimes, playing with Zimbabwe and all the Associate nations, it feels like you can learn a lot from them as well because they enjoy playing their cricket," she said, framing the matches as learning opportunities as well as tests.

Mandhana acknowledged the team must address aspects of its T20 game despite recent success: "We have won the World Cup in the last one-and-a-half-year but there were few things which we needed to work in the T20 format especially," she said, signalling specific areas of focus in the lead-up to the Champions Trophy. The scheduled matches will provide the management and new captain a chance to work on those areas before the tournament.

She pointed to contributions from newer players as a source of strength while avoiding dwelling on shortcomings at the outset. "But I would say our strength has been the players who have come in. They have done extremely well. On the first day, I wouldn't really want to talk about weaknesses in a way," Mandhana said, later adding: "There is a lot of things we need to work on. We need a lot of things to get in place. But I think today is the day to talk about good and positive stuff."

Before the cricket begins, the Indian women's team will travel to New Delhi on Thursday alongside the men's team for a felicitation event with Prime Minister Narendra Modi following their gold-medal triumph at the Asian Games. The team then moves to competition, with the Zimbabwe T20I series starting Friday, followed by three ODIs and a South Africa tour, all forming the immediate lead-up to the inaugural Women's Champions Trophy early next year.