Smriti Mandhana and Mithali share experience of their first training session in UAE.
Velocity captain Mithali Raj on Wednesday (October 28) asked her players to just focus on the basics and don’t try to push themselves hard as they are gearing up for the upcoming Women's T20 Challenge to be played from November 4-9 in Sharjah, in the UAE.
The Women’s version of the Indian Premier League will see three teams – Trailblazers, Supernovas, and Velocity battling in the four matches to win the Women's T20 Challenge trophy in the UAE.
The Velocity led by Mithali will take on Harmanpreet Kaur’s Supernovas in the tournament opener on 4th November while the Trailblazers will be led by Smriti Mandhana.
Ahead of the tournament, Mithali, being a senior player, suggested everyone should work on their basics for a couple of days as they will get into a rhythm by time and keep themselves hydrated and fit since they are coming off a long lockdown and a quarantine period due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Read Also: Mandhana, Mithali, Harmanpreet and others land in UAE for Women's T20 Challenge
Mithali said to her teammates in a video posted on the IPL’s official Twitter handle: “We are not here to judge anybody, all of us are coming from the quarantine period, just get your basics, for the first two days’ work on your basics, once the flow comes and then ease into it. Hydrate yourselves well, even if you train for twenty minutes, intensity should be there, don't try to push too hard.”
She added, “It was a fun session, I was not expecting to time the ball as I did, it feels good to be back, all girls are very excited, everyone is looking in touch, really looking forward to November 4th.”
Meanwhile, Trailblazers (/topic/trailblazers) captain Smriti Mandhana said: “It was a fun session, I was not expecting to time the ball as I did, it feels good to be back, all girls are very excited, everyone is looking in touch, really looking forward to November 4th.”
Noteworthy, all the Women's Challenger Trophy matches will start from 7:30 PM IST except the second match between Velocity and Trailblazers which will be played from 3:30 IST in the afternoon.
Here are all squads for all three teams:
Trailblazers– Smriti Mandhana (c), Deepti Sharma, Punam Raut, Richa Ghosh, D Hemlatha, Nuzhat Parween, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Harleen Deol, Jhulan Goswami, Simran Dil Bahadur, Salma Khatun, Sophie Ecclestone, Natthakan Chantam, Deandra Dottin, Kashvee Gautam.
Velocity– Mithali Raj(c), Shafali Verma, Veda Krishnamurthy, Sushma Verma, Ekta Bisht, Mansi Joshi, Shikha Pandey, Devika Vaidya, Sushree Dibyadarshini, Manali Dakshini, Leigh Kasperek, Danielle Wyatt, Sune Luus, Jahanara Alam, M Anagha.
Supernovas-Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Chamari Atapattu, Priya Punia, Anuja Patil, Radha Yadav, Taniya Bhatia, Shashikala Sriwardene, Poonam Yadav, Shakera Selman, Arundhati Reddy, Pooja Vastrakar, Ayushi Soni, Ayabonga Khaka, Muskan Malik
(With ANI Inputs)