India sweats over Smriti Mandhana's fitness after she cops a blow on head during warmup game against SA women

Smriti Mandhana gave some nervy moments to her fans when she had to retire hurt after suffering from a blow on the head in a warm-up game against South Africa in the Women's World Cup  Shabnim Ismail bowled a bouncer that hit Mandhana on the head in the early parts of the game.

Advertisment

The incident followed an immediate attendance by the physician. The 25-year old showed no signs of concussion and was given a green signal to continue batting. She batted for a while but left the field after another consultation.

According to the medical team, the batter departed the field as a precautionary measure. Her fitness and availability for the rest of the tournament are yet to be announced.

Mandhana scored 12 runs before she departed. From there on it was Yastika Bhatia, Mandhana's opening partner, who carried on. With two more wickets falling in quick succession, she stabilized the innings and scored 58 runs in 78 balls.

Advertisment

Along with her, it was Harmanpreet Kaur who had a major role to play in the innings. The pair stitched a partnership of 84 runs in 94 balls. After Bhatia fell to Sune Luus, Harmanpreet continued to get runs. She hit 9 boundaries and scored 103 runs in the first innings. She scored a majority of her runs by running between the wickets and helped India set a target of 245 runs.

In the second innings, India got the first wicket soon, but opener Laura Wolvaardt continued to score runs. She got a good partnership with captain Sune Luus for the third wickets and they scored 84 runs together.

Rajeshwari Gayakwad got India back as she got 4 wickets in the match. India went on to win the match by 2 runs. India will play their next warm-up game against West Indies. They begin their World Cup campaign on the 6th of March against Pakistan.