India and Zimbabwe women begin first bilateral T20I series

India and Zimbabwe women play their first bilateral T20I series starting Friday at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur. The three matches begin at 7pm local time each day.

Smriti Mandhana leads India for the first time as full-time captain, with Shafali Verma as vice-captain. Jemimah Rodrigues is out with a hamstring injury, and Shreyanka Patil, Renuka Singh Thakur and Radha Yadav have also been left out.

Zimbabwe, led by Josephine Nkomo, kept the same squad that beat West Indies in an ODI last month. The three ODIs follow the T20Is in Vadodara from October 23 to 28.