Indian cricket fans are going to have more T20 cricket action coming their way in November. The 2020 IPL which is currently taking place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will enter the playoff stage in November and culminate with the IPL final on Nov 10. The BCCI has now confirmed that the Women’s T20 Challenge will also take place in the UAE from Nov 4 to 9.
Women Cricketers Happy With T20 Challenge
India’s top women cricketers had earlier expressed their frustration due to not being able to play or practice. It appeared that the BCCI had forgotten them for a moment and was concentrating only on the IPL. However, the BCCI had promised them that it was working on putting together a T20 challenge for them in the UAE and the BCCI has delivered.
The All-India Women’s Selection Committee which was established in September 2020 decided to go with three squads for the Women’s T20 challenge. This will be the 3rd edition of the tournament and will see a total of just 3 matches and the final. This competition will see the best Indian women cricketers take part and also international stars play a role as each team is allowed to have a total of 4 overseas players, similar to the IPL.
Three Teams And Their Players
The three teams taking part in the competition are the Supernovas, Trailblazers and Velocity. The All-India Women’s Selection Committee has chosen Mithali Raj, Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur to captain the squads.
Fans who follow women’s cricket closely will be happy to note that some of the top overseas players are expected to take part in this 4 day tournament. Players from England, New Zealand, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and South Africa are part of the three squads.
We must point out that Thailand will also be represented in this T20 tournament for the first time as Natthakan Chantham has been selected. She was the first Thai woman to score a T20 half century for her country and will now enhance her reputation by being the first female cricketer from Thailand to play in the T20 Challenge.
Here are the players in each squad.
Supernovas: Harmanpreet Kaur will captain the side and Jemimah Rodrigues will be her deputy. Other players in the squad include Radha Yadav, Chamari Atapattu, Anuja Patil, Priya Punia, Shashikala Siriwardene, Taniya Bhatia (WK), Poonam Yadav, Arundhati Reddy, Shakera Selman, Muskan Malik, Pooja Vastrakar, Ayabonga Khaka and Ayushi Soni.
Trailblazers: Smriti Mandhana will captain the side and Deepti Sharma will be her deputy. Other members of the squad include D. Hemalatha, Punam Raut, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Richa Ghosh, Harleen Deol, Nuzhat Parween (WK), Harleen Deol, Sophie Ecclestone, Jhulan Goswami, Natthakan Chantham, Simaran Dil Bahadur, Deandra Dottin, Salma Khatun and Kashvee Gautam.
Velocity: Mithali Raj will captain the side and Veda Krishnamurthy will be her deputy. The other members in the squad are Shafali Verma, Ekta Bisht, Shikha Pandey, Mansi Joshi, Sushma Verma (WK), Shikha Pandey, Sushree Dibyadarshini, Devika Vaidya, Leigh Kasperek, Manali Dakshini, Suné Luus, Danielle Wyatt, M. Anagha and Jahanara Alam.
Match Days: The BCCI is yet to confirm the venue for these games but has confirmed the schedule as of now. Game 1 will take place on 04 Nov when Supernovas take on Velocity, Game 2 will take place on Nov 5 when Velocity take on the Trailblazers, Game 3 will take place on Nov 7 when the Trailblazers take on Supernova. The final will take place on Nov 9 between the top 2 teams.
India’s women cricketers will want to put up a good performance in this four match tournament as they are pushing the BCCI to start a women’s IPL with 6 teams.
