Smriti M Resumes Cricket; Begins Training for upcoming T20 Series

By: WE staff | Wednesday, 10 December 2025

• Smriti Mandhana is all geared up to get back playing for India after a personal setback
• She has resumed training, with a practice photo turning heads on social media
• She is likely to play a five-match T20I series against Sri Lanka in India starting December 21

Smriti Mandhana will make a comeback to international cricket shortly after a personal change.

Smriti, who currently serves as the vice-captain of the Indian Women's National Cricket team, was previously scheduled to wed music composer Palash Muchhal on November 23 in her hometown of Sangli, however, that ceremony was put off temporarily and now appears to be cancelled entirely, according to reports to the press from Smriti.

She has returned to training following the cancellations and a photo from one of her training sessions has gone viral through social media outlets. Smriti is expected to join the Indian women's team for its home T20I series against Sri Lanka, scheduled for December 21-30.

The initial two matches will be played in Visakhapatnam, and the last three matches will take place in Thiruvananthapuram. This will be India's inaugural international series since their World Cup victory.

In addition, two young talents, Gunalan Kamalini and Vaishnavi Sharma have received their first-ever call-ups to represent the country at the international level.

17 year old Gunalan has previously played for Mumbai Indians during the WPL over the span of nine matches, while 19-year-old Sharma was not present at either of the WPL auctions. Gunalan and Vaishnavi replaced Radha Yadav and Uma Chhetri in the first team that won the World Cup.

Most of the players from the last toy program have returned, with Harmanpreet Kaur continuing as captain and Smriti continuing as vice-captain. Also included in the squad is teenager Shafali Verma, who was drafted in just before the semi-final of the World Cup for Pratika Rawal due to injury.

The composition of the India squad is as follows: 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

WPL 2026 will in all likelihood commence on 9th January 2021, in Navi Mumbai, after the completion of this series. The Indian series with Sri Lanka has been included in the calendar of 2021, as the planned December 2021 India-Bangladesh white ball series has been postponed. The last faceoff between Sri Lanka and India occurred during the T20I series of the 2021 World Cup, which took place in October 2021.