Indian Women’s cricket team bowling coach Troy Cooley is hopeful that Smriti Mandhana will make her first appearance at the ongoing ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, with Harmanpreet Kaur’s side set to take on West Indies on Wednesday, February 15.
Mandhana, who recently became the most expensive player in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2023 auction after she was signed by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for a staggering Rs 3.4 crore, missed India’s inaugural match against Pakistan due to injury.
In Smriti’s absence, Yastika Bhatia opened the innings for India alongside Shafali Verma.
The Indian opener has been nursing a finger injury and had to sit out of India’s meeting against Pakistan as Richa Ghosh and Jemimah Rodrigues helped the Indian side pull off their highest successful chase in the T20 World Cup.
After a thrilling start to the campaign, Harmanpreet and Co will be looking to maintain the momentum and they may yet be boosted by the return of Mandhana.
According to the Indian bowling coach, Mandhana completed her training session and looked good to go, but she will be assessed.
“She has been working very hard and she will be assessed after training. She did everything that needed to be done and we are pretty confident she got through the session OK," Cooley said in his pre-match press conference ahead of the next against West Indies.
There have been some concerns regarding the fitness of Indian skipper Harmanpreet as well and she was not spotted training before the clash against the Caribbeans.
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Cooley though revealed that there is nothing to worry about as the Indian captain is fit and raring to go.
“Yeah, well, Harman, she has a very good training program. She knows the game inside out. And you won’t see her very regularly coming in the day before a game. But she’s fit and she’s got a smile on her face and she’s hungry to score some runs, which is great, and lead this team," said the 57-year-old.
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