India-Sri Lanka Women T20 match: Cricket fever grips Vizag; security ramped up across city
This series marks the Women in Blue’s first international assignment after their World Cup-winning campaign earlier in November
By - Sri Lakshmi Muttevi
Visakhapatnam: Cricket fever has gripped Vizag ahead of the T20 match between the Indian women's cricket team and Sri Lanka in Vizag on Sunday.
All fans are gearing up to watch their favourite sports stars.
Fresh from their historic ODI World Cup triumph, India Women will take on Sri Lanka in a five-match T20 International series scheduled from December 21 to 30, with two matches in Visakhapatnam on December 21 and 23.
Security has been ramped up across the city to ensure incident incident-free match. Women police officers have been deployed to ensure the safety of the team. Vizag Police Commissioner Shankhabrata Bagchi asked his team to enhance security arrangements, especially at the physical ticket counters. The stadium area is surrounded by youngsters waiting to get a glimpse of the women's squad.
This series marks the Women in Blue’s first international assignment after their World Cup-winning campaign earlier in November.
Apart from their practice sessions at Dr YSR ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium, the champions are seen at Andhra University for an advertisement shoot. Fans were seen gathering to take videos and pictures of their favourite stars, especially India women’s captain Harmanpreet Kaur. Harmanpreet led India to their maiden senior ICC women’s title by defeating South Africa in the final of the 2025 Women’s Cricket World Cup at the D.Y. Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
This series will also be significant for vice-captain Smriti Mandhana, marking her first international outing after a personal setback. Meanwhile, spinner Vaishnavi Sharma and wicketkeeper G Kamalini have earned their maiden call-ups to the national side.
It may be noted that the Punjab Cricket Association named a stand in her honour at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium. With this achievement, Harmanpreet etched her name in history as only the third Indian woman cricketer to have a stadium stand named after her. Earlier, Jhulan Goswami (Eden Gardens, Kolkata) and Mithali Raj (ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam) received the same distinction.
