Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana will lead the two teams which will cross swords in a women’s exhibition Twenty20 game ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) Qualifier 1, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced on Tuesday.
Two of India’s popular T20 players, Harmanpreet and Smriti will lead their respective teams comprising their compatriots – Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Veda Krishanmurthy among others.
Foreign stars Suzie Bates, Sophie Devine, Alyssa Healy, Megan Schutt, Beth Mooney, Danni Wyatt and Daniel Hazell will also feature in the contest.
The match will begin at 2 pm on May 22 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai before the IPL Qualifier 1, which is slated to start at 7 pm on the same date.
“BCCI has been pulling out all stops to promote and nurture women’s cricket and this is a small yet significant step towards a prospective league involving women’s stars in the future,” Committee of Administrators member Diana Edulji was quoted in the release. “The IPL is the biggest and most popular league in the world and it has been a long-time endeavour to have a women’s league that can match the exuberance of IPL,” she added.
