With Indian women slated to travel to Sri Lanka for a T20I and ODI series after June 20, there is still a question mark over who would be replacing Mithali Raj as captain of the ODI team. Even though the 39-year-old Raj has not yet announced her retirement from international cricket, there have been indicators that the selectors will look to pick a new captain.
As most followers would expect, Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana will be front-runners to take the leadership mantle with important assignments like Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and then T20 World Cup in South Africa next year.
Kaur is the vice-captain of the team and T20 captain and led her team Supernovas to the title in the recently concluded Women’s T20 Challenge. It was her third title as captain.
Former India captain Anjum Chopra feels that the 33-year-old Kaur is the best choice to become captain of the India team in all three formats.
“Harmanpreet is the best choice to take over the mantle of captaincy in all formats. She has been phenomenal for India for a decade and should have been the captain in all formats long back. The fact that she is a match-winner also makes an able candidate to lead India whenever that has to happen. Her captaincy has been good in the T20 format and we could see glimpse in the just concluded T20 women’s challenge,” said Chopra, who played 12 Tests, 127 ODIs and 18 T20s for India.
She added: “The captain of the Indian team should definitely have leadership qualities, should have performed consistently well in the past and can get good performances out of players.”
On the other hand, even though Mandhana’s team Trailblazers could not reach the final of the Women’s T20 Challenge, but the 25-year-old from Sangli impressed as captain in the domestic T20 cricket tournament held last month. She captained Maharashtra to their first T20 final. She was playing for her state after a gap of four years. The left-handed opener exhibited impressive leadership qualities in the competition and left a mark with the youngsters.
Known for her batting swagger across all formats, Mandhana has been the most consistent cricketer for India since the 2017 World Cup outing. She possesses a calming temperament while Kaur who is known to have aggressive demeanour.
“It is for the BCCI and the selection committee to decide the captain. I don’t have any say in it. Having said that, my own personal opinion would be to choose someone who is consistent in all three formats and who can play for India for a long time. Maybe a leader who is calm, collected, thinker and inspirational,” Raj had once said.
Ranked number six in T20 and nine in ODI women ICC rankings, opener Mandhana took the spotlight when she hit her maiden century in the pink-ball test match against Australia in 2021 to became the first Indian woman to score a century in a pink-ball women’s cricket Test. Mandhana made her Test debut in August 2014 against England at Wormsley Park. She helped her team to win the match by scoring 22 and 51 in her first and second innings, respectively.
Praising the left-handed Mandhana’s leadership qualities during the domestic T20 Trophy, Maharashtra coach Indrajeet Karmakar said, “There came a time or two during matches when the players were under pressure and had to deliver the goods in order to win. I saw a great quality in Smriti that she did not lose her cool and backed the players to get out of the situation by staying cool and giving their best. It was a blessing that she could play in the T20 domestic tournament for Maharashtra and the girls could learn so much from her. She has a positive aura around her and she inspires players. The players raised their game seeing Smriti play good knocks which helped Maharashtra reach the final of the domestic tournament for the first time. The knock of 84 she played in the final against Railways was an outstanding one, unfortunately we lost,” added Karmakar.
Mandhana has been part of the global leagues like Women’s Big Bash League, Kia Super League and The Hundred.
Leading India won’t be new for Mandhana. In February 2019, she was named as the captain of India’s Women T20I squad for the three matches against England in Harmanpreet’s absence as she was injured. She became the youngest T20I captain for India when she led the women’s team against England in the first T20I in Guwahati, at 22 years and 229 days.
Kaur grabbed attention globally when she hit tremendous 115-ball knock of unbeaten 171 against Australia to help India reach the final. From that knock till the 2022 ODI world Cup, Kaur had not been consistent playing for India and had scored in bits and pieces. However, in the World Cup, she was India’s top player scoring the maximum runs batting in the middle-order.
“It is the present that needs urgent attention before we talk about the probable future. We (India women team) are already playing catch up while competing with the best in the world. It’s essential to look for solutions to meet the challenges,” felt Chopra, who is now a cricket expert.
Former India captain Shanta Rangawamy, too, thinks Mandhana is an apt choice to become India’s next captain.
“Smriti should lead India when Mithali decides to quit playing. Harman is a proven match-winner and star player but captaincy needs taking responsibility and playing consistently well. Additional responsibility of captaincy may weigh Harman down. It will put an additional burden on Harman. Smriti can handle that better. Her temperament is suited to captaincy,” Shanta Rangaswamy, BCCI Apex Council member had said during the ODI World Cup where India could not even make it to the semi-finals.