With star opener Smriti Mandhana injured, Harmanpreet Kaur-led India women's cricket have a huge hole to fill in their batting lineup. Adding more pressure to the situation, India will kick off their T20 World Cup 2023 journey against arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday (February 12). There were doubts about Mandhana's availability for the blockbuster clash as she missed India's practice game before the World Cup match.


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India coach Hrishikesh Kantikar confirmed Mandhana will miss the clash against and is likely to be fully-fit for India's second match in the tournament. (Follow LIVE IND vs PAK Women T20 World Cup Updates Here)


"Smriti has a finger injury and is still recovery, so she won't play most-likely. It's not a fracture and we're hopeful she will be available from the second game onwards," said Kantikar.


IND vs PAK: Smriti Mandhana's likely replacements


1) Yashika Bhatia


2) Jemimah Rodrigues


3) Harleen Deol


T20 World Cup 2023: IND-W vs PAK-W Predicted XI


Pakistan: Muneeba Ali, Sidra Ameen, Bismah Maroof, Nida Dar, Ayesha Naseem, Aliya Riaz, Omaima Sohail, Kainat Imtiaz, Fatima Sana, Tuba Hassan, Nashra Sandhu


India: Yastika Bhatia, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Devika Vaidya, Harmanpreet Kaur, Pooja Vastrakar, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Renuka Thakur, Radha Yadav, Shika Pandey (more to follow)