The 2019 IPL Women’s T20 Challenge from Monday could be a major leap towards realising the dream of a stand-alone IPL for women cricketers. The BCCI is trying to make the dream of a woman’s Indian Premier League a reality.
In the opening match, Trailblazers will take on Supernovas and it will be broadcast from 7:30pm onwards on Monday. Trailblazers vs Supernovas live streaming will be available on Hotstar and Jio TV.
Last year, only two teams played and it was considered as an exhibition match, but this time three teams are playing in a tri-series format with an official T20 status. The third team, Velocity, led by Mithali Raj, also features Veda Krishnamurthy, English cricketer Danielle Wyatt and Hayley Matthews from West Indies. All the four matches are being hosted by the pink city, Jaipur, at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. The preliminary matches are going to be held in round-robin format, followed by the final match between the emerging top two teams. Each team features four overseas players and nine domestic players.
To attract crowd and earn more fan following, the BCCI had decided to conduct the match during prime hours unlike last year, when the match was held at 2pm.
Earlier the players were given a daily allowance not a match fee.
Star players to watch out for this IPL season:
This year, Supernovas host exceptional talents such as Arjuna Award winner Harmanpreet Kaur, Chamari Atapattu—the ODI and T20 batswoman for the year 2016-17—one cannot simply forget her 178 not-out, and Sophie Devine who scored the fastest half century in women’s T20 cricket.
The bowling side is led by pace bowlers Mansi Joshi, Arundati Reddy and Lea Tahuhu, one of the best fast bowlers in the world. Don’t miss out the teenager Jemimah Rodrigues who dazzled us all with her double century.
Suzie Bates, the former captain of New Zealand, and Smriti Mandhana, who bashed her skills at Big Bash League, will take charge of the batting responsibilities of the Trailblazers.
India’s Jhulan Goswami might have retired from international T20 but with her unbeaten record of 200 wickets in WODI, she is definitely in the game.
Mithali Raj and Danielle Wyatt will team up for the new entrant Velocity in the T20 challenge .
West Indies vice-captain Hayley Matthews and India’s very own Veda Krishnamurthy are a few others to watch out for.
Other than these star players, four uncapped cricketers are given an opportunity to showcase their talent. This T20 challenge will potentially provide a clear stand on India’s second and third string, moreover, it can also act as a head start to the upcoming T20 World Cup in 2020.
Due to the hassles between the BCCI and the Cricket Australia, Ellyse Perry, Meg Lanning and Alyssa Healy who played last year's IPL will be missing the T20 series this year.
Match dates:
May 6, 7.30pm : Supernovas vs Trailblazers at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.
May 8, 3.30pm : Trailblazers vs Velocity at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.
May 9, 7.30pm : Supernovas vs Velocity at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.
May 11, 7.30pm : Final (top two teams) at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
