The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) has announced squads for this year’s Women’s T20 Challenge (WT20C). Three teams, Supernovas, Trailblazers, and Velocity, will be led by Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, and Deepti Sharma respectively. Sharma has replaced Mithali Raj, as the Velocity skipper.
Moreover, veteran India cricketers Mithal Raj, Jhulan Goswami, and Shikha Pandey will miss the tournament. Talking about Raj and Goswami, the iconic Indian duo, featured in the tournament’s last edition, even after getting retired from T20 internationals, back in 2020. While Pandey, the experienced India all-rounder, is surely having a rough patch as the 33-year-old was dropped from the home white-ball series against South Africa in March 2021.
Pandey, with Jemimah Rodrigues, missed the ODI World Cup in New Zealand, earlier this year. Although Rodrigues is back for the WT20C, Pandey has missed the bull’s eye. Other than these, Veda Krishnamurthy too has botched to make it; the 29-year-old played her last T20I match against Australia, in the Women’s T20 World Cup 2020 final.
Discussing the notable domestic accumulations, Kiran Navgire, the Nagaland superstar from the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy, has entered the arena. Navgire scored an unbeaten knock of 162 not out off 76 deliveries in the tournament. Several domestic stars from the tournament will join her for the WT20C.
Furthermore, various overseas players missed the tournament in 2020 as it clashed with the Women’s Big Bash League. But this time, right-arm leggie Alana King will be the only cricketer from Australia to feature in the tournament. Sophie Ecclestone, Sophia Dunkley, Kate Cross (from England), Deandra Dottin, Hayley Matthews (from West Indies), Ayabonga Khaka, Laura Wolvaardt, Sune Luus (from South Africa), Salma Khatun, Sharmin Akter (from Bangladesh) and Natthakan Chantham (from Thailand), will be the other overseas players in the contest.
Squads:
| Supernovas | Trailblazers | Velocity |
| Harmanpreet Kaur (C) | Smriti Mandhana (C) | Deepti Sharma (C) |
| Taniya Bhatia (VC) | Poonam Yadav (VC) | Sneh Rana (VC) |
| Alana King* | Arundhati Reddy | Shafali Verma |
| Ayushi Soni | Hayley Matthews* | Ayabonga Khaka* |
| Chandu V | Jemimah Rodrigues | KP Navgire |
| Deandra Dottin* | Priyanka Priyadarshini | Kate Cross* |
| Harleen Deol | Rajeshwari Gayakwad | Keerthi James |
| Meghna Singh | Renuka Singh | Laura Wolvaardt* |
| Monica Patel | Richa Ghosh | Maya Sonawane |
| Muskan Malik | S Meghana | Natthakan Chantham* |
| Pooja Vastrakar | Saiqa Ishaque | Radha Yadav |
| Priya Punia | Salma Khatun* | Aarti Kedar |
| Rashi Kanojia | Sharmin Akter* | Shivali Shinde |
| Sophie Ecclestone* | Sophia Dunkley-Brown* | Simran Bahadur |
| Sune Luus* | Sujata Mallik | Yastika Bhatia |
| Mansi Joshi | SB Pokharkar | Pranavi Chandra |
* denotes overseas player
Besides, this is the fourth edition of the Women’s T20 Challenge and the whole tournament will be played at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune. Champions from the last edition, Mandhana’s Trailblazers will be keen to defend the title while Velocity with their new skipper should be looking for a breakthrough.
The tournament will feature four games in total; the finals will be played on May 28, at the same venue.
Schedule (All games at MCA Stadium, Pune):
May 23: Trailblazers vs Supernovas – 19:30 IST
May 24: Supernovas vs Velocity – 15:00 IST
May 26: Velocity vs Trailblazers – 19:30 IST
May 28: Final
Written By Prachi Pisal
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