Indian women's team announced for South Africa tour, Smriti Mandhana to captain

The BCCI on Monday announced the Indian women's team for the tour of South Africa across all formats, scheduled to take place in December 2026. Smriti Mandhana will lead the team in all formats, while Deepti Sharma will serve as her deputy in the Test and ODI formats. Shafali Verma will once again play the role of vice-captain in T20Is.

Smriti Mandhana will lead the Indian Test team for the first time during the South Africa tour. The composition of the Test team has been kept similar to the team that played the only Test match against England at Lord's. Jemimah Rodrigues, who missed the Zimbabwe series due to injury, has made a comeback in the white-ball squad.

One Test, three ODIs, and three T20Is will be played between India and South Africa. The solitary Test match will commence from 9 December in Gqeberha. Subsequently, ODI matches will be held between 16 and 22 December in Paarl, Cape Town, and Bloemfontein. The T20 series will be played between 26 and 30 December in Benoni and Potchefstroom, according to a report by Sportstar.

Smriti Shrinivas Mandhana is an Indian international cricketer and the captain of the Indian women's national team. She was part of the team that won the 2025 Women's Cricket World Cup as well as the 2016, 2022, and 2026 Women's Asia Cups. She won gold medals in the 2022 and 2026 Asian Games and a silver medal in the 2022 Commonwealth Games.