India's captaincy can be handed over to Smriti Mandhana after the World Cup: WV Raman

Former India women’s team coach WV Raman stated that Smriti Mandhana might be handed over the Indian team’s captaincy immediately after the upcoming Women’s World Cup in 2022. Raman stated that giving her the role to her currently won’t be the correct decision but after the conclusion of the World Cup, she must assume the captaincy regardless of the result of the multi-team tournament.

Raman’s comments come after Mandhana notched up her maiden Test century against Australia in their backyard during the recently-concluded historic Day-Night Test between the two sides. Notably, it was the first instance when the Indian women team played with the pink ball, and Mandhana’s efforts led India to dominate the hosts.

“Captaincy has got nothing to do with age but I am convinced that Mandhana can be the captain. She is a good reader of the game and has already played few years of cricket,” Raman said during a virtual interaction.

“It can be a good time and giving captaincy to a younger cricketer means they can lead the side for a stretch for some years.

“But this is not the right time for handing over captaincy because of the upcoming World Cup. So just to hold on to whatever is happening in recent past and perhaps, after the World Cup, regardless of the results, I think the captaincy can be handed over to Smriti Mandhana,” he added.

Currently, Mithali Raj, 38, is the captain of India’s Test and ODI side while Harmanpreet Kaur, 32, is the leader of the T20I team.

WV Raman, who guided India to the final of the T20 World Cup in Australia last year, was recently replaced by Ramesh Power as the team’s coach.

As for India’s remaining tour, the two teams will play three T20Is at the Carrara Oval on October 7, 9 and 10. Australia, who defeated India in the ODIs 2-1, currently lead the multi-format series after the one-off Test ended in a draw. Despite the score-line reading against India, the visitors have continuously managed to push Australia under pressure and would enter the final leg of the series high on confidence.