Mandhana Stresses Need for Strong Opening Partnerships as India Prepares for T20 World Cup]

India’s vice-captain Smriti Mandhana has emphasized the crucial role she and opening batter Shafali Verma must play in the upcoming T20 World Cup, following India’s 2-1 series loss to England where the opening pair struggled to provide competitive starts.

Mandhana and Verma compiled opening partnerships of 19, 27, and 0 across the three matches, but the 24-year-old insists both openers “have a huge role to play going forward” as India aim to defend their ODI World Cup title and add the T20 trophy to their cabinet.

“We’re definitely timing the ball well but unfortunately we’re not able to contribute in big ways for the team,” Mandhana said after India’s six-wicket defeat in the third T20I. “For both of us, we’ll go back to the nets, keep working hard and make sure we come back stronger as an opening pair because both of us pride ourselves on giving good starts and maintaining momentum. Unfortunately, we couldn’t achieve that in this series, but we’ll take it in our stride and work harder.”

Mandhana finished the series with an average of 13.33 and a high score of 32, while Verma averaged 11.66 with a strike rate of 152.17. Their only productive stand came in the second match at Bristol, where Mandhana scored 32 off 25 balls and Verma contributed 22 off 14 in a chase of 169, though India ultimately fell short by 26 runs after a collapse of 7 for 32.

Despite the series loss, Mandhana highlighted positive performances, including Yastika Bhatia’s return from injury, who finished as the top run-scorer across both teams with 119 runs including a half-century. In the decider, captain Harmanpreet Kaur’s unbeaten 56 off 40 balls nearly led India to a chase of 180, falling short when England’s Alice Capsey and Heather Knight compiled a crucial 137-run fourth-wicket partnership to secure victory with nine balls to spare.

“Harmanpreet batted amazingly well today,” Mandhana said. “When she’s at her best, it’s a sight to watch. She played all around the ground with a really important innings under pressure. I just feel everyone is definitely in good form, which are good signs for the World Cup.”

Looking ahead, Mandhana acknowledged India’s strong bowling start, reducing England to 38 for 3 while defending 180, but noted areas for improvement. “We definitely started extremely well with the ball, but I wouldn’t take anything away from the partnership they built. They played really good cricketing shots all around the ground. In hindsight, we could have built more pressure with dot balls.”

India are placed in Group 1 of the T20 World Cup with Australia, South Africa, Bangladesh, and Netherlands, with warm-up matches against West Indies and England scheduled for June 8 and 10 respectively. Their tournament opener against Pakistan is set for June 14 in Birmingham.

“The India-Pakistan match doesn’t need hype,” Mandhana said. “We played it at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and it sold out. We need to generate excitement for the entire T20 World Cup. The anticipation is already there, and hopefully we can deliver a strong performance for the supporters.”

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