{"id":597,"date":"2025-12-31T09:55:47","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T09:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/?p=597"},"modified":"2025-12-31T09:57:58","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T09:57:58","slug":"why-smriti-mandhana-is-missing-from-indias-5th-t20i-against-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/?p=597","title":{"rendered":"Why Smriti Mandhana is Missing from India\u2019s 5th T20I Against Sri Lanka"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>India\u2019s cricket team has made some notable changes for the fifth and final T20I match against Sri Lanka. Fans were left puzzled as star opener Smriti Mandhana was not included in the playing XI for this crucial match. So, why is Mandhana sitting out?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur, both Mandhana and fast bowler Renuka Singh Thakur have been given a break for the final match of the series. With India already leading the series 4-0, the team management decided to give rest to key players and provide opportunities to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/smriti_2-2-1024x590.png\" alt=\"Why Smriti Mandhana not playing today\" class=\"wp-image-599\" srcset=\"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/smriti_2-2-1024x590.png 1024w, https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/smriti_2-2-300x173.png 300w, https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/smriti_2-2-768x442.png 768w, https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/smriti_2-2-729x420.png 729w, https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/smriti_2-2-150x86.png 150w, https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/smriti_2-2-696x401.png 696w, https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/smriti_2-2-1068x615.png 1068w, https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/smriti_2-2.png 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Mandhana has been in stellar form, playing a significant role throughout the series. Her exclusion today is part of a broader strategy to rotate players and manage workload as the series reaches its conclusion. This will also give chances for other players, like G Kamalini, to make an impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>India has already sealed the series, and this game offers a chance to experiment and refine their squad ahead of the upcoming challenges. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka, despite a tough run so far, is looking to end their tour on a positive note and aim for at least one win before returning home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>India\u2019s cricket team has made some notable changes for the fifth and final T20I match against Sri Lanka. Fans were left puzzled as star opener Smriti Mandhana was not included in the playing XI for this crucial match. So, why is Mandhana sitting out? According to Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur, both Mandhana and fast bowler [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-597","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=597"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":600,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597\/revisions\/600"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todaynewshours.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}