A four-match Women’s T20 challenge, comprising three teams, will be held during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 playoffs, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) recently announced.
The round robin matches of the tournament will be played on May 6, 8 and 9 while the final will be played on May 11 with all matches taking place at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur.
The tournament will comprise of the Supernovas, Trailblazers and Velocity – all of whom will play each other before the two teams with the most points compete in the final. While the full list of players is yet to be confirmed, Smriti Mandhana, Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur are expected to lead the three sides.
“The teams will comprise current and future stars of Indian cricket playing alongside a selection of the world’s best players,” the BCCI said in a release. “The combined strength of talent on display will showcase the quality of women’s cricket.”
The BCCI had experimented with Women’s T20 exhibition match that was played last year prior to the first play-off game of the men’s IPL at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai. The Mandhana-led Trailblazers had clashed with the Harmanpreet-led Supernovas with the latter winning by three wickets in a last ball thriller.
Elite women cricketers such as Ellyse Perry, Alyssa Healy, Suzie Bates, Meg Lanning and Sophie Devine had taken part in the match last time around.
The full schedule for the Women’s T20 Challenge 2019 is as follows:
- May 6 – Supernovas vs Trailblazers
- May 8 – Trailblazers vs Velocity
- May 9 – Supernovas vs Velocity
- May 11 – Final
All matches will be telecasted live on Star Sports Network.
