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Mandhana Admits India's Openers Must Step Up Massively at the Women's T20 World Cup 2026
5 Jun 2026, 5:41 pm
A Series Loss That Came With Important Lessons
India Women wrapped up their three-match T20I series against England with a 2-1 defeat, and the result has sharpened the focus on what needs to improve before the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 begins in England later this month. India won the opener convincingly, then lost back-to-back matches to hand the hosts the series.
Vice-captain Smriti Mandhana was candid about what went wrong. Speaking after the third T20I in Taunton, which India lost by six wickets after posting 180 for 5, she pointed directly at the opening partnership as the area that needs the biggest improvement.
Mandhana and Shafali Must Deliver More at the Top
The numbers from the series are not flattering for India's top order. Mandhana and Shafali Verma produced opening partnerships of just 19, 27, and 0 across the three games. Mandhana herself averaged just 13.33 in the series, while Shafali averaged 11.66. For a pair that is supposed to set the tempo for India's batting, that level of output in T20 cricket simply is not good enough at World Cup level.
""For me and Shifu, we are definitely timing the ball well but unfortunately we are not able to contribute in big ways for the team,"" Mandhana said. She added that both she and Shafali take great pride in giving the team strong starts and that they will go back into the nets to get it right ahead of the tournament.
The Bright Spots India Can Build On
Not everything from the series was negative. Yastika Bhatia returned from injury to finish as the top run-scorer across both teams with 119 runs including a half-century, a genuine shot in the arm for India's middle order. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur also struck an unbeaten 56 off 40 balls in the decider, looking every bit the big-match player India needs her to be.
India now move into two warm-up games before the World Cup begins on June 12 with England vs Sri Lanka at Edgbaston. The lessons from this series will be fresh in every Indian player's mind.
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