Smriti Mandhana was recently named the skipper for the Bangalore Franchise in the Women's T20 League, scheduled to be played in Mumbai from March 4. Earlier, she scripted history by becoming the first player sold in the players' auction for the inaugural edition of the Women's T20 League. Notably, she was also the costliest player of the auction going for 3.40 crores to the Bangalore franchise. Since Bangalore picked her, fans have not missed a chance to troll her association with the franchise highlighting that her chances of winning the trophy are next to nothing.
People have obviously compared Smriti Mandhana's fate to Virat Kohli's in this context. Much like Kohli is for the men's game, Mandhana is the star face of the women's game in India. Notably, Kohli's Bangalore team has never been able to win the Indian T20 League, and trolls speculate the same fate for Smriti Mandhana.
Harmanpreet Kaur is sidelined from action with illness
The Indian women's team competing in the ongoing Women's 20-20 World Cup has been dealt a major blow. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur is suffering from illness, and if she does not recover in time, Smriti Mandhana may be given a chance to lead the team. Notably, Harmanpreet Kaur has been robbed by the Mumbai franchise for the upcoming Women's T20 League. Fans were quick to note the Mumbai-Bangalore situation in this scenario.
They were quick to react to the update. There were two major themes – firstly, fans opined that having a Bangalore skipper lead team meant letting one hand of the trophy, as Bangalore's fate has never seen them lift a cup. Secondly, a Mumbai skipper getting injured before an important match was another continued theme from the Indian T20 League that the fans exploited.
Notably, the Indian women's team lost only one game in the group stages against England. They have successfully defeated Pakistan, West Indies and Ireland to finish second in Group B. They'll face Australia in the semifinal to be played on Thursday.
Here are some of the top tweets reacting to this update:
Trophy haarne ki practice abhi se
— Cricket Fan 07 (@Manas_pr_sharma) February 23, 2023
Giving tribute to fellow MI captain Rohit by getting injured before an important match .
— . (@novabhi) February 23, 2023
RCB player leading India, a loss is inevitable now😭😭😭😭
— Bakri Player (@cric_nerd2) February 23, 2023
— Jignesh trivedi (@JMTRIVEDI7) February 23, 2023
🤦🤦🤦😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/B2TxW10Egs
— Aaryan Singh (@TheAaryanSingh_) February 23, 2023
Mumbai Indians showing their true colours 😂 as usual RCB captain for all the blame after losing aginst mighty Aussie women's pic.twitter.com/pzPVcc9vGi
— Pawan Virat (@pawanvirat18) February 23, 2023
Congratulations Australia pic.twitter.com/omBqBX1W5O
— Sir BoiesX 🕯 (@BoiesX45) February 23, 2023
SM ERA starts today 🤌🏽 pic.twitter.com/BvpgI6J30P
— Risv (@afanofkingg) February 23, 2023