BCCI announces squads and schedule for Women's T20 Challenge

Women’s T20 Challenge, as reported earlier, is set to be played from November 4 to November 9 alongside the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). The BCCI, on Sunday, announced the schedule the squads for the tournament with three teams, Supernovas, Trailblazers and Velocity, to fight it out for the glory. Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Mithali Raj will lead the three teams respectively like last year.

A total of 12 foreign players are set to play in the competition. The 12 overseas are, Chamari Atapattu, Shashikala Siriwardene, Shakera Selman, Salma Khatun, Leigh Kasperek, Sophie Ecclestone, Danielle Wyatt, Natthakan Chanham, Sune Luus, Ayabonga Khaka, Deandra Dottin and Jahanara Alam. Chantham will become the first player from Thailand to feature in the tournament after scoring country’s first half-century in the World Cup earlier this year.

These players have been equally divided into three teams fulfilling the limit of four foreigners in the side. Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma and Veda Krishnamurthy have been the vice-captains of Supernovas, Trailblazers and Velocity teams respectively.

Last year’s finalists to play the opening game

As far as the schedule is concerned, last year’s finalists, Velocity and Supernovas, will lock horns against each other in the opening game of the Women’s T20 Challenge. Supernovas, led by Kaur, had won the tournament and they will be looking to defend their title this year. Velocity will have a quick turnaround as they will face the Smriti Mandhana-led Trailblazers on the very next game while the last league game will take place on November 7.

The final of the Women’s T20 Challenge will be played on November 9, a day prior to the IPL final. However, the BCCI hasn’t revealed the venue for the tournament. It was earlier reported that all the matches are likely to be played in Sharjah while the teams will reach UAE on October 21 and follow the six-day quarantine rule with the players to be tested on first, third and fifth days respectively.

Here are the squads:

Supernovas: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Jemimah Rodrigues (VC), Chamari Atapattu, Priya Punia, Anuja Patil, Radha Yadav, Taniya Bhatia (WK), Shashikala Siriwardene, Poonam Yadav, Shakera Selman, Arundhati Reddy, Pooja Vastrakar, Ayush Soni, Ayabonga Khaka, Muskan Malik.

Trailblazers: Smriti Mandhana (C), Deepti Sharma (VC), Punam Raut, Richa Ghosh, D Hemalatha, Nuzhat Parween (WK), Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Harleen Deol, Jhulan Goswami, Simaran Dil Bahadur, Salma Khatun, Sophie Ecclestone, Natthakan Chantham, Deandra Dottin, Kashvee Gautam.

Velocity: Mithali Raj (C), Veda Krishnamurthy (VC), Shafali Verma, Sushma Verma (WK), Ekta Bisht, Mansi Joshi, Shikha Pandey, Devika Vaidya, Sushree Dibyadarshini, Manali Dakshini, Leigh Kasperek, Danielle Wyatt, Sune Luus, Jahanara Alam, M Anagha

Schedule