Cricket News: Harmanpreet, Smriti & Mithali to captain sides in Women’s IPL

Harmanpreet Kaur, Smrithi Mandhana and Mithali Raj will lead the Supernovas, Trailblazers and Velocity respectively in the upcoming Women’s T20 Challenge to be played between May 6th and May 11th at the SawaiMansingh Stadium, Jaipur. India’s best cricketers and future stars will be joined by international players from England, New Zealand, West Indies, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in a four-match tri-series. Twelve overseas players from five different countries will take part, split evenly between the three teams. There is a mix of established stars from the world’s dominant teams – the likes of Nat Sciver from England and Stafanie Taylor from West Indies – and up-and-coming players, including seamer Jahanara Alam from Bangladesh. The rest of the squads are filled by Indian cricketers, again a combination of established internationals and domestic upstarts. India Women head coach WV Raman, fielding coach Biju George, and and former India captain Mamta Maben will elad the three teams. There isn’t a single Australian player named in any of the three squads. It surprised many but now it has come to the fore that this was a pressure tactic by the Australian cricket board after a dispute with the BCCI regarding a men's ODI series. The issue started after the Indian board wanted Cricket Australia to play a men's ODI series in India in January 2020. The proposal irked the Australian broadcasters as that would mean there would be no ODIs in Australia's home season. But BCCI officials believe that this is no way to react to the issue with Women’s IPL.