Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, Mithali Raj Arrive In UAE For Women's T20 Challenge

Indian women cricketers covered in PPE kits arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to take part in the Women's T20 Challenge on Thursday. The Indian Premier League's (IPL) official Twitter handle shared a few pictures of Indian T20 skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, ODI captain Mithali Raj, veteran fast bowler Jhulan Goswami, opener Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues, among others. The three-team event will be played between November 4 and 9, during which each team will play one match against each other, with top two sides playing the final. All these matches will be played at a single venue, with Sharjah's iconic stadium staging all four games.

Let's hear it for our girls!

Hello UAE !

The #Supernovas, #Trailblazers, #Velocity have arrived.

CANNOT WAIT for #WomensT20Challenge pic.twitter.com/9imeu1EuUL

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) October 22, 2020

This year's event will not see some of the big names of women's cricket take the field, with the most notable ones being from world champion Australian side, as they will be taking part in the Women's Big Bash League, which starts on October 25 and will run until November 29.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the three squads which includes players from England, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies. 

Smriti Mandhana will lead the Trailblazers, while Harmanpreet Kaur, and Mithali Raj will be leading the Supernovas and Velocity teams respectively.

The tournament will also see a Thailand player Natthakan Chantham in action. Earlier this year, she scored her country's first Women's T20 World Cup half-century.

Thailand's Natthakan Chantham, who scored her country's first Women's T20 World Cup half-century, will become the first Thai cricketer to feature in the tournament, the BCCI statement added.

(With AFP inputs)

Topics mentioned in this article

India Women Smriti Mandhana Harmanpreet Kaur Mithali Raj Jhulan Goswami Cricket