Raipur, Oct 16 (IANS) Young batting all-rounder Niki Prasad has been handed her T20I debut as India, led by Smriti Mandhana for the first time as the side’s full-time captain, won the toss and elected to bowl against Zimbabwe in the opening game of the three-match series at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur on Friday.

The match also marks the start of Zimbabwe's first-ever bilateral series in women’s cricket against India, and Raipur is hosting a women's international cricket match for the first time.

After winning the toss, Smriti said India have picked three seamers in Kranti Gaud, Arundhati Reddy, and Nandni Sharma, with two spinners in N Sree Charani and Deepti Sharma, with Shafali Verma providing the sixth bowling option.

Niki, who captained India to the 2025 Women’s U19 T20 World Cup title and had good performances with the India A team in the recent series against Australia A, will bat at five with a returning Anushka Sharma slotted at number three.

“We would like to field first today due to the dew factor. There’s one eye on the Champions Trophy. That's the vision we have: there are going to be a lot of matches at night and in the dew. (Have led) a few times for India as well, and in terms of WPL.

“So, I wouldn't say that I'm thinking about it too much in my head. I just want to play the exact same (cricket). In terms of the Indian team, I feel it's a pretty young team. Of course, Zimbabwe is a great team, and we have a lot of youngsters and a lot of things that we have worked on. So hopefully we can do all of those things in the next three months leading up to the Championship.

“We have definitely thought about it (how challenging it is to pick players) in terms of selecting our eleven. Unfortunately, Prema (Rawat), Jintimani (Kalita), Minnu Mani and Kammu (G Kamalini) miss out. Of course, they are all good players, but in terms of our team combination today, they miss out unfortunately,” she said.

Zimbabwe captain Josephine Nkomo feels her side have prepared well, especially after their recent series at home against the West Indies. “We've done a lot of solid preparation despite all odds. We're coming off a good series against the West Indies, and we're hoping to carry that momentum and confidence right into this series.

“We've got a really good mix in our lineup, featuring some great combinations and talented youngsters. It's a fairly young squad, and we're hoping to learn a lot and get a great deal out of this series,” she said. Zimbabwe are also wearing black armbands in memory of former Zimbabwe player and umpire Sarah Dambanevana, who died at the age of 36 in Harare on October 12.

Playing XIs:

India: Shafali Verma (vice-captain), Smriti Mandhana (captain), Anushka Sharma, Harmanpreet Kaur, Niki Prasad, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Shree Charani, Arundhati Reddy, Nandni Sharma, and Kranti Gaud

Zimbabwe: Nyasha Gwanzura, Chipo Mugeri-Tiripano, Kelis Ndhlovu, Beloved Biza, Josephine Nkomo (captain), Modester Mupachikwa (wk), Michelle Mavunga, Francisca Chipare, Olinder Chare, Tendai Makusha, and Sharne Mayers

--IANS

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