Correspondent, 21 October: The Indian women's cricket team secured a 3-0 clean sweep in their T20 series against Zimbabwe. However, rather than the victory, an alleged dispute between current captain Smriti Mandhana and former captain Harmanpreet Kaur has become the primary talking point. A video from the aftermath of the third match has gone viral on social media, showing the two players avoiding a handshake with each other.
India won the third match of the series by a 92-run margin. Shafali Verma and Harmanpreet Kaur played crucial roles in securing this victory. Batting aggressively, Harmanpreet smashed an unbeaten 91 runs off just 41 deliveries. Meanwhile, Shafali Verma, often referred to as 'Lady Sehwag', played a dashing innings of 69 runs from 37 balls, featuring 6 boundaries and 6 sixes.
Following the match-winning performance, Harmanpreet celebrated and shook hands with other players, but she was observed deliberately ignoring Smriti Mandhana. According to the viral footage, the two players did not even look at each other after the game and walked away in opposite directions.
On October 20, 2026, an X account named '@_backtolobby' shared a post raising questions about the incident, explicitly noting that this marked Mandhana's first series victory as captain.
The apparent tension was also evident during the post-match presentation ceremony, where Harmanpreet's body language clearly indicated her displeasure. When she stepped up to speak, she became emotional and broke down in tears. She subsequently threw the microphone aside and walked away from the area. These events have sparked intense discussions that all is not well within the Indian squad, prompting questions about whether Harmanpreet is upset over being removed from the captaincy.
