Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami not included in Women's T20 Challenge squads

The BCCI has announced the squad for the Women's T20 Challenge, starting May 23. While the Supernovas and Trailblazers will be led by Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana respectively, Velocity have a new captain in Deepti Sharma, replacing Mithali Raj, who will not take part in this edition of the tournament.

Deepti was Mandhana's deputy in the Trailblazers' squad previously has now moved onto lead a new team. There is no place of senior bowler Jhulan Goswami in the any of the three squads. 

"The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announces Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma as captains of Supernovas, Trailblazers and Velocity respectively," the BCCI said in a statement.

"The three teams will compete in the upcoming Women’s T20 Challenge to be played from May 23 to May 28 at Pune’s MCA stadium."

Each team has been allotted four overseas players in their teams and will comprise a total of 16 members. The Supernovas will have Alana King, Deandra Dottin, Sophie Eccelstone and Sune Luus. West Indies' Hayley Matthews, and Bangladesh duo of Salma Khatun and Sharmin Akhter will play for the Trailblazers along with Sophia Brown.

The four foreign players for Velocity include Proteas Women's Ayabonga Khakaand batter Laura Wolvaardt. Kathryn Cross and Thailand's Natthakan Chantham - the tournament's only associate player - will also turn up for the Deepti-led side. 

The tournament kick starts on May 23 with Trailblazers taking on Supernovas in the first game.

Supernovas: Harmanpreet Kaur  (c), Taniya Bhatia (vc), *Alana King, Ayush Soni, Chandu V, *Deandra Dottin, Harleen Deol, Meghna Singh, Monica Patel, Muskan Malik, Pooja Vastrakar, Priya Punia, Rashi Kanojia, *Sophie Ecclestone, *Suné Luus, Mansi Joshi

Trailblazers: Smriti Mandhana (c), Poonam Yadav (vc), Arundhati Reddy, *Hayley Matthews, Jemimah Rodrigues, Priyanka Priyadarshini, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Renuka Singh, Richa Ghosh, S. Meghana, Saiqa Ishaque, *Salma Khatun, *Sharmin Akter, *Sophia Brown, Sujata Mallik, S.B.Pokharkar

Velocity: Deepti Sharma (c), Sneh Rana (vc), Shafali Verma, *Ayabonga KhakaK, P.Navgire, *Kathryn Cross, Keerthi James, *Laura Wolvaardt, Maya Sonawane,  *Natthakan Chantham, Radha Yadav, Aarti Kedar, Shivali Shinde, Simran Bahadur, Yastika Bhatia, Pranavi Chandra

*Overseas players