Women's T20 exhibition matches to include players from West Indies, South Africa, Sri Lanka

Overseas players from as many as six countries are set to play in the Women's T20 exhibition games, scheduled to be held during the Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs. Top players -- include West Indies all-rounder Deandra Dottin and T20 World Cup-winning captain Stafanie Taylor, South Africa captain Dane van Niekerk and fast bowler Marizanne Kapp and Sri Lanka all-rounder Chamari Atapattu -- will be grouped with Australia's Meg Lanning, Ellyse Perry, Alyssa Healy and Megan Schutt, New Zealand's Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine, and England's Danielle Wyatt who had participated in last year's one-off Women's T20 Challenge.

Three teams will square up against each other in one round-robin league, with all fixtures likely to be held at a single venue for logistical reasons. Chennai, which is likely to host the IPL final on May 12, could stage the final of the women's tournament, too, ESPNcricinfo said. However, staging a full-fledged T20 league like the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) in Australia or the Kia Super League in the UK may take some more time, given the concerns of the BCCI over the depth of India's domestic pool of players.

The BCCI had organised a one-match Women's T20 Challenge at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai in 2018 as a curtain-raiser to the first IPL Qualifier and comprised two teams -- the IPL Supernovas and the IPL Trailblazers. India T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur and vice-captain Smriti Mandhana led the Supernovas and the Trailblazers, respectively. The match was conducted as a means to test the feasibility of starting an IPL-style women's T20 league in the country. Although the match was a last-ball thriller and was telecast by the board's host broadcaster, the crowd present at the venue was thin, partly because the game had a 2 pm start. (ANI)

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