The Indian women cricketers Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues are expected to miss the upcoming season of the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL). WBBL is scheduled to commence on October 18 and it will last till December 8 and it will be clashing with India’s tour of the West Indies and as a result, the players will have to withdraw from the 5th season of WBBL, but they might play at the end of the season.
According to the reports ESPNCricinfo, BCCI’s general manager (cricket operations), Saba Karim said, “The BCCI doesn’t discourage any of our women’s players from taking part in overseas leagues as long as their participation in those tournaments doesn’t clash with their national duties. In this case, there’s an international series to be played, so that will automatically be on top of their list of priorities.”
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Team India is scheduled to depart for the Caribbean on October 23. They will also be keen to remain fresh for India’s tour of Australia next year which will also be featuring England in the tri-series. After the Australia series, India will take part in the Women’s T20 World Cup, scheduled to commence February next year and the Harmanpreet and her team will face Australia in their first match of the tournament.
The scheduling of the WBBL and India’s tour of West Indies resulted in Harmanpreet’s contract not getting extended for Sydney Thunder. However, she was also approached by the Melbourne Stars. Rodrigues is still waiting for that maiden WBBL contract. She enjoyed a good KSL season for Yorkshire Diamonds, after finishing the tournament as the second-highest run-scorer.
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India is currently playing a five-match T20I series against South Africa at home. The Indian team recorded a win in the first T20I whereas the second match of the series was abandoned due to rain at Surat.
After the T20I series, India will be locking horns with South Africa for a three-match ODI series.
