India captain Harmanpreet Kaur returned to practice on the day before the second T20 International against England, scheduled to be played in Bristol on Tuesday. Harmanpreet had sustained a head injury during the warm-up match against the ECB Development XI last week, causing her to miss the first game of the five-match series as a safety precaution. The team will decide on her availability on match day.
“𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒔, 𝒔𝒉𝒆 [𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒕] 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒋𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚,” 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒐𝒇𝒇-𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝑺𝒏𝒆𝒉 𝑹𝒂𝒏𝒂 𝒐𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒚. “𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏.”
Injury and Impact on the Series
Although the exact moment Harmanpreet suffered the head injury is unclear, she had made a quickfire 28 runs off 16 balls, including four boundaries, before being dismissed lbw by legspinner Sarah Glenn in the warm-up game where India fell short of their 195-run target by six runs. Following that incident, Harmanpreet skipped the pre-series press conference and missed the opening T20I in Nottingham, which India won convincingly by 97 runs.
In her absence, Smriti Mandhana captained the side and scored her first T20I century, helping India secure a 1-0 series lead. Mandhana became the first Indian woman—and only the fifth player overall—to hit a century across all three international formats. She revealed later that she was informed about her captaincy role just hours before the match but was mentally prepared for the responsibility.
Milestones and Team Outlook
Mandhana is set to add another achievement to her name on Tuesday at Bristol, becoming only the second Indian woman—and seventh player overall—to play 150 women’s T20Is. Harmanpreet leads all players with 178 T20I appearances across both men’s and women’s cricket.
“𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒂 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒐𝒄𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎,”
Sneh Rana commented on Mandhana’s milestone. “We are grateful to have her in the team.” Rana herself made a comeback in Nottingham, playing her first T20I since the 2023 T20 World Cup.
Following the Bristol match, the two teams will continue the series with games scheduled at The Oval on July 4, Manchester on July 9, and Birmingham on July 12, before shifting focus to a three-match ODI series.
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