The historic Sharjah cricket stadium is likely to host the Women’s T20 challenge matches which are scheduled to happen from Nov 1-10. The IPL Governing Council in August had decided to have a three-team Women’s T20 Challenge with four games.

The ground will also host 12 matches of IPL 2020 as well, which begins from September 19 onwards.

On Sunday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief Sourav Ganguly visited the Sharjah stadium for a routine inspection, along with IPL Governing Council chairman Brijesh Patel, BCCI joint secretary Jayesh George and treasurer Arun Dhumal.

Harmanpreet Kaur excited for upcoming Women's T20 Challenge in UAE

Sharjah Stadium has held over 240 ODIs and Ganguly was happy with preparations at the stadium. The BCCI delegation will also visit the other two venues in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

The last game the Indian women’s team played was the final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia in March and since then, no cricket has happened due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

“The players have been out of action for nearly six months, so they will take some time to attain match fitness. Even though they are doing individual training, it would take a few weeks to get things in place,” said an official.

The women cricketers will probably reach the UAE in the third or fourth week of October, follow the BCCI SOPs pertaining to Covid-19, and stay inside the bubble. They are also likely to have a short camp before the tournament.

(Sportstar inputs)