{"id":9475,"date":"2025-11-02T16:26:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T10:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/?p=654521"},"modified":"2025-11-02T16:26:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T10:56:14","slug":"ind-vs-sa-womens-world-cup-final-smriti-mandhana-walks-out-for-toss-as-rain-drama-continues-harmanpreet-missing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/cricket\/ind-vs-sa-womens-world-cup-final-smriti-mandhana-walks-out-for-toss-as-rain-drama-continues-harmanpreet-missing\/","title":{"rendered":"IND vs SA Women\u2019s World Cup Final: Smriti Mandhana walks out for toss as rain drama continues \u2014 Harmanpreet missing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A fresh layer of suspense unfolded at the DY Patil Stadium as vice-captain Smriti Mandhana<\/strong> walked out for the toss inspection in place of Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur<\/strong>, amid continuous rain interruptions before the Women\u2019s World Cup Final against South Africa.<\/p>\n

Just when fans expected the toss to finally take place after long weather delays, Smriti\u2019s unexpected appearance in Harmanpreet\u2019s stead raised eyebrows and social-media chatter \u2014 with many wondering whether the skipper was unavailable for the big finale.<\/p>\n

Harmanpreet not visible yet \u2014 but no injury concerns<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Team sources suggest Harmanpreet Kaur is fit and available<\/strong>, and this was only a temporary stand-in situation given the multiple ground inspections and rain-forced chaos. Smriti likely stepped in while Harman was briefly indoors as the team reset plans between weather breaks.<\/p>\n

There is no indication<\/strong> that Harmanpreet will miss the match.<\/p>\n

\n

How the build-up unfolded (latest updates)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

2:10pm local:<\/strong> Covers stay on, toss delay likely
2:17pm:<\/strong> Blue skies, covers start coming off
2:23pm:<\/strong> Umpires assess; puddles near boundary
2:26pm:<\/strong> Toss scheduled for 3 PM, start at 3:30
2:34pm:<\/strong> Rain returns, umbrellas up again
~3 PM:<\/strong> Heavy showers, \u201cbucketting down\u201d moment
3:55 PM:<\/strong> Loud cheers \u2014 covers off again
4:02 PM:<\/strong> Umpires inspect with skippers
4:08 PM:<\/strong> Drizzle again, covers back
Toss rescheduled:<\/strong> 4:32 PM, first ball 5 PM (zero overs lost)
4:15 PM:<\/strong> Umpires call both captains \u2014 Smriti Mandhana arrives<\/strong>, not Harmanpreet<\/p>\n

\n

Fans react as confusion builds<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The sight of Smriti leading discussions briefly sparked speculation:<\/p>\n

\u201cIs Harman out?\u201d<\/em>
\u201cWhy is Smriti suddenly doing toss duties?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

However, clarity followed \u2014 Harmanpreet is expected to walk out once conditions settle<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\n

Weather still playing spoilsport<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Despite periods of sunshine, intermittent showers and repeated cover movement continue to hold the game hostage. The latest spell again brought covers on just when hopes were rising.<\/p>\n

The final toss announcement remains pending as umpires continue to monitor the outfield.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A fresh layer of suspense unfolded at the DY Patil Stadium as vice-captain Smriti Mandhana walked out for the toss\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":250,"featured_media":32100,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4204,976],"class_list":["post-9475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cricket","tag-harmanpreet","tag-smriti-mandhana"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}