India announce T20I squad for Sri Lanka series, their first after winning the ODI world cup. (AP0Harmanpreet Kaur will continue to lead the side in the shortest format, with Smriti Mandhana as her deputy, as India return to T20I action for the first time after their historic ODI World Cup win at the start of November. In a five-match T20I series against Sri Lanka that starts in Visakhapatnam for a couple of matches and ends in Thiruvananthapuram later this month, India have largely retained the core group that won the series earlier this year during the English summer. But there were indeed a couple of fresh call-ups handed out to young wicketkeeper from Tamil Nadu, G Kamalini, and promising left-arm spinner from Madhya Pradesh, Vaishnavi Sharma,
From the squad that won the five-match series in England 3-2, World Cup winner Radha Yadav misses out, as does Sayali Satghare. Yastika Bhatia is another notable absentee, after being named in the ODI World Cup squad originally but then replaced before the tournament due to injury. Another wicketkeeper batter, Uma Chetry, who replaced Yastika in the World Cup final 15, is also not part of this squad, where presumably young Kamalini has been preferred.
Vaishnavi is another Madhya Pradesh talent to keep an eye on, with Kranti Gaud making her mark recently. She grabbed the headlines at the start of India’s victorious U19 World Cup campaign earlier this year, with figures of 5/5 against Sri Lanka U19 that included a hat-trick. She finished as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker. She had carried that form onto the domestic circuit, finishing the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy at the top of the charts too with 21 wickets from 9 innings at an economy rate of 4.50. But surprisingly, she went unsold at the recent Women’s Premier League mega auction, where she was widely expected to find a franchise.
🚨 News 🚨#TeamIndia’s squad for the 5⃣-match T20I series against Sri Lanka Women announced.
More details – https://t.co/CS41IPCECP#INDvSL | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/uqavBNZpEL
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) December 9, 2025
Kamalini, on the other hand, has impressed in brief cameos during the WPL with defending champions Mumbai Indians. She played nine matches for MI during their second title-winning campaign, and scored 32 runs in five innings, but her match-winning four off the penultimate match of a thrilling run-chase against RCB showed her temperament under pressure. She made headlines at the previous WPL auction. After scoring a 29-ball 44 at a strike rate of 151.72 with four 4s and three 6s against Pakistan at the ACC Women’s U19 Asia Cup 2024 Bayuemas Cricket Oval, Kuala Lumpur. She was picked up by MI in the auction for a whopping Rs 1.60 score. She was one of the five players retained by MI this time before the WPL mega auction.
Also making a comeback to the T20I side is lead pacer Renuka Singh Thakur, who made her long-awaited comeback from injury only just before the ODI World Cup.
India’s squad for Sri Lanka T20Is: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Harleen Deol, Amanjot Kaur, Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud, Renuka Singh Thakur, Richa Ghosh (WK), G Kamalini (WK), Sree Charani, Vaishnavi Sharma
1st T20I: Sunday, 21st December, Visakhapatnam
2nd T20I: Tuesday, 23rd December, Visakhapatnam
3rd T20I: Friday, 26th December, Thiruvananthapuram
4th T20I: Sunday, 28th December, Thiruvananthapuram
5th T20I: Tuesday, 30th December, Thiruvananthapuram
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