Harmanpreet, Smriti, Mithali to lead in Women's T20 Challenge

The BCCI has announced the three teams for the upcoming Women’s T20 Challenge 2020, scheduled to be played in the UAE from November 4 to 9. Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Mithali Raj have been named captains of Supernovas, Trailblazers and Velocity respectively. The first match of the tournament will see Supernovas taking on Velocity on November 4 at 7.30 PM IST. Out of the four matches in the tournament only one match - Match 2 between Velocity and Trailblazers will be a day match - and begin at 3.30 PM IST.

The Indian cricketers will combine with some of the finest talents from England, South Africa, West Indies, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Bangladesh in the tournament. However, in a first, Thailand’s Natthakan Chantham becomes the first from her country to be named in the Women’s T20 Challenge. Earlier this year, she had scored her country’s first-ever half-century in the T20 World Cup. She will play under Mandhana at the Trailblazers.

Some of the other prominent overseas figures include Shashikala Siriwardene (Sri Lanka), Salma Khatun (Bangladesh), Leigh Kasperek (New Zealand), Danielle Wyatt (England), Sane Luus (South Africa) and Deandra Dottin (West Indies). 

The Supernovas will again defend their title, having beaten Velocity by four wickets in the previous editions’ final in Jaipur.

The tournament will be squeezed in between the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020, which will end on November 10. 

Full Schedule:

Match 1: Supernovas vs Velocity - November 4, 7:30 PM IST

Match 2: Velocity vs Trailblazers -  November 5, 3:30 PM IST

Match 3: Trailblazers vs Supernovas - November 7, 7:30 PM IST

Final: November 9, 7:30 PM IST

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, Ayushi 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, Sene Luus, Jahanara Alam, M Anagha