Mandhana to lead India women in all formats on December tour of South Africa

The BCCI has named Smriti Mandhana as India women’s captain in all three formats for the December tour of South Africa, which comprises one Test, three one-day internationals and three T20Is. The squads were announced on Monday, November 9, in a media advisory signed by the board’s honorary secretary, Devajit Saikia.

The Test in Gqeberha on December 9 will be Mandhana’s first as captain in red-ball cricket. Deepti Sharma is vice-captain in the Test and the ODIs, and Shafali Verma holds the post in the T20Is.

The squads

The Test and ODI squads have 15 players each and are the same except for one place. Sneh Rana is in the Test squad and Vaishnavi Sharma replaces her in the ODIs. The common core is Mandhana, Shafali, Pratika Rawal, Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harleen Deol, Deepti, Sree Charani, Kranti Gaud, Nandni Sharma, Jintimani Kalita and Sayali Satghare, with Richa Ghosh and Yastika Bhatia as the two wicketkeepers.

The T20I party is a separate 17. Rawal, Deol, Bhatia and Kalita, who are in the Test and ODI sides, are not in it. Seven players are named only for the T20Is: Niki Prasad, G. Kamalini (a wicketkeeper), Anushka Sharma, Prema Rawat, Amanjot Kaur, Renuka Singh Thakur and Arundhati Reddy. Mandhana, Shafali, Jemimah, Harmanpreet, Richa, Deepti, Charani, Kranti, Nandni and Satghare complete the list. The advisory gives no reasons for any selection or omission.

India women in South Africa, December 2026

1. December 9One-off Test, Gqeberha
2. December 16First ODI, Paarl
3. December 19Second ODI, Cape Town
4. December 22Third ODI, Bloemfontein
5. December 26First T20I, Benoni
6. December 29Second T20I, Potchefstroom
7. December 30Third T20I, Potchefstroom

How the captaincy changed

Mandhana took over on October 6, the day Harmanpreet Kaur stepped down as captain across all formats. Harmanpreet announced the decision on Instagram: “Today, I step down as captain of the Indian Women’s Cricket Team across all formats,” she wrote. “Now, I’m ready to play for the love of the game again.” On being named, Mandhana said: “To be given the responsibility of leading India is a very special honour.”

Harmanpreet led India in 5 Tests, 51 ODIs and 155 T20Is, and was captain when India won the Women’s World Cup in November 2025. The squad lists show her selected in the Test, ODI and T20I teams for South Africa; the advisory does not give her a role beyond that of a player. Our report on Mandhana’s first match as captain covers the handover in detail.

What the captain has done so far

Mandhana’s first series as full-time captain went India’s way. India won the three T20Is against Zimbabwe, finishing with a 92-run win in the third, India’s biggest home win by runs in the format, as we reported in the T20I sweep. In the ODIs, Pratika Rawal’s hundred anchored a chase of 198 in 27.1 overs in the opener, and Harmanpreet and Deepti both made centuries in a 121-run win that took the series with a game to spare. Shafali and Mandhana chased 103 in 8.5 overs in the second T20I, as we covered in that match report.

Niki Prasad, who made her debut in that series, is one of the T20I-only names. Prema Rawat, also in that list, hit the fastest fifty in women’s T20 cricket, off 14 balls, for Uttarakhand against Hyderabad in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy in Pune on November 2.

Why it matters

The three ODIs count towards the ICC Women’s Championship for 2025 to 2029, so each result carries points, according to tour reports. The Test, on December 9, opens the tour, and for Mandhana it is the first time she captains India in red-ball cricket, a debut that comes in the first season of her permanent captaincy.

What happens next

The Test begins on December 9 in Gqeberha, the first ODI follows on December 16 in Paarl, and the series ends with the third T20I at Potchefstroom on December 30. The BCCI advisory gives no departure date for the squad.