NEW DELHI: India opener Smriti Mandhana in all likeliness will miss team's opening fixture at Women's T20 World Cup against arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday.
The vice-captain picked up a finger injury while fielding during the warm-up game against Australia earlier this week and is "still recovering", confirmed stand-in coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar.
Mandhana was also forced to sit out of India's second warm-up tie against Bangladesh.
"Smriti has a finger injury and is still (in) recovery, so she won't play most likely. It's not a fracture and we're hopeful she will be available from the second game onwards," Kanitkar said during a press conference.
"You want to be playing the strong teams, the arch-rivals if you can call them that. We are totally prepared for what happens, the atmosphere is good," added Kanitkar.
The former India men's team cricketer added that captain Harmanpreet Kaur has recovered fully from the shoulder niggle she picked up during the Tri-series against West Indies and South Africa.
"Harman is fit to play. She has batted for the last two days in the nets, she is fine," Kanitkar added.
Earlier on Saturday, Mandhana posted her images on social media in full cricketing gear and captioned them, "Let's go T20WorldCup2023".
The Indian team is clubbed alongside England, Pakistan, West Indies and Ireland in Group B.
India come into the World Cup match having lost the recent Tri-series final to South Africa. They also lost the warm-up game against Australia before beating Bangladesh.
(With inputs from PTI)
