Zimbabwe have lost all 18 T20Is this year, and Mandhana starts her captaincy against them in Raipur tonight

Zimbabwe have played 18 T20Is in 2026 and lost every one of them. Their first match against India Women, in Raipur on Friday night, is also Smriti Mandhana’s first as India’s full-time captain, and a new captain could hardly ask for a gentler opening night.

The first of three T20Is starts at 7pm IST at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium. The sides have never met in a women’s international before. It is Zimbabwe’s first tour of India, too, and Raipur has never hosted a women’s international.

Mandhana has done this 18 times already

Mandhana has been here plenty of times. She led India in 18 T20Is while Harmanpreet Kaur was captain, and India won 11 of them. She has also won two WPL titles in charge of Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

“I wouldn’t say it’s an extremely new thing, but it’s something to look forward to,” she said before the opener. She sounded more curious than wary about the opposition. “This is quite exciting; it’s the first time we are playing against them,” she said, adding that sides like Zimbabwe “enjoy their cricket” in a way professionals sometimes forget to.

Harmanpreet, who gave up the captaincy on 6 October, is in the squad and will bat under her old deputy. Shafali Verma is the new vice-captain, and she arrives in form. She has made at least 40 in each of her last five T20I innings, including an unbeaten 100 off 49 balls in the Asian Games semi-final against Bangladesh.

One gap in the batting order

Jemimah Rodrigues is still out with the hamstring tear she picked up in August, which also cost her the Asia Cup and the Asian Games. That leaves No. 3 open. Anushka Sharma and Niki Prasad, both in the squad, are the likeliest candidates.

The bowling needs less thought. N Shree Charani has taken more than 40 T20I wickets this year, and India have won every T20I they have played since Australia knocked them out of the T20 World Cup at Lord’s on 28 June.

Zimbabwe need a start from Ndhlovu

Josephine Nkomo’s side kept the same 15 who hosted West Indies in September and October. That series brought Zimbabwe their first ODI win over West Indies, on 27 September, but the three T20Is that followed were all lost.

Their batting leans heavily on opener Kelis Ndhlovu. She has 320 runs in 18 T20Is this year, the most by a Zimbabwe batter according to ESPNcricinfo, and she made 63 off 48 balls in the final match against West Indies in Harare on 7 October. Beloved Biza and Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano are expected to bat with her in the top three.

Raipur’s only two T20Is so far were men’s games. In the more recent one, in January, India chased down New Zealand’s 208 for 6 with 28 balls to spare, and Mandhana said the pitch looked good for batting. The second and third games are on 18 and 20 October, before the series moves to Vadodara for three ODIs.

Follow every game of Mandhana’s first series in charge