Harmanpreet, Smriti, Veda to lead teams for Senior T20 Challenger

Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Veda Krishnamurthy have been named as captains of India A, India B and India C, respectively, for the upcoming Senior Women’s T20 Challenger Trophy which will take place between January 4 and 11 in Cuttack.

The domestic tournament gives the players the last chance to audition for spots heading into the tri-series against England and Australia followed by the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2020. The teams will play each other twice before the top two contesting the finals.

Players like the 15-year-old Shafali Verma, Priya Puniya, Devika Vaidya and Nuzhat Parween, all of whom represented India A against Australia A in the latter's backyard, have found spots for the domestic tournament.

Although they lost both the one-day as well as the T20 series, Shafali and Punia notched up centuries during the 50-over series while wicketkeeper-batter Parween smashed forty-plus runs on a couple of occasions. Moreover, Harleen Deol, who missed the series against Australia A due to a toe injury, has been named for the T20 Challenger Trophy.

Squads:

India A: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Taniya Bhatia (wk), Shivali Shinde (wk), Jasia Akhtar, Priya Puniya, Deepti Sharma, Devika Vaidya, Sneh Rana, Mansi Joshi, Meghna Singh, Komal Jhanjhad, Meenu Mani, Radha Yadav, Bharati Fulmali

India B: Smriti Mandhana (c), Sushma Verma (wk), R Kalpana (wk), Vanitha V.R, Jemimah Rodrigues, Anuja Patil, Poonam Yadav, Pooja Vastrakar, Shikha Pandey, Renuka Singh, Anjali Sarvani, Sushri Dibyadarshini, Tanuja Kanwer, Richa Ghosh

India C: Veda Krishnamurthy (c), Nuzhat Parween (wk), Shafali Verma (wk), Yastika Bhatiya, Dayalan Hemlatha, Harleen Deol, Manali Dakshini, Jincy George, Arundhati Reddy, Monica Patel, Vrushali Bhagat, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Tanushree Sarkar, Madhuri Mehta