Smriti Mandhana pays tribute to Harmanpreet amid rift rumours

Newly appointed Indian women’s captain Smriti Mandhana paid tribute to outgoing skipper Harmanpreet Kaur on Wednesday, hours after a report claimed that the two senior players did not see eye to eye over the captaincy. Taking to Instagram, Smriti praised Harmanpreet’s 10-year leadership of the Indian team and said she hopes the two can continue to bring success to the country together.

“It was a pleasure to play with you for so many years,” wrote Smriti.

“Ten years of your leadership have been fantastic and together we will strive to bring many more laurels to our nation,” she added.

Smriti Mandhan’s news came after the BCCI named her India’s captain in all three formats, ending Harmanpreet’s tenure as the team’s leader.

The timing of the post was significant, with a PTI report earlier claiming that there were differences in the post of captain caused unrest between the two players. A team source was quoted as saying that the pair “have not seen eye to eye for some time now”. Screenshot from Instagram

The report also said that Harmanpreet wants to continue to lead India in Tests and ODIs but has been told by the BCCI that it is looking for a change of guard across formats.

Harmanpreet took over as India’s full-time T20I captain in 2016 and became the ODI and Test captain six years later. Under her leadership, India won their first ODI World Cup last year and recently won their second consecutive Asian Games gold medal in the T20 format.

India also finished with a silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games under Harmanpreet.

The 37-year-old is widely regarded as one of the leading figures in Indian women’s cricket and has been at the center of the team’s rise across formats. However, the team’s performance in T20 cricket has also raised questions over the management. India have made an early exit from back-to-back T20 World Cups, though they ended their long wait for an ICC trophy with victory in the home ODI World Cup last year.

Mandhana also expressed her readiness to take over the captaincy in a recent interview. After India won gold at the Asian Games, she said the team should focus on winning bigger tournaments. The captaincy issue was subsequently discussed during BCCI’s assessment meeting in Guwahati, chaired by board secretary Devajit Saikia, where Harmanpreet was informed that a change of guard was likely.

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