Women’s T20 C’ship starts today

LAHORE: The Women’s T20 championship will roll into action from Sunday (today) at Rawalpindi.

An official of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said that the three-team tournament, which runs till December 1 at Pindi Cricket Stadium, will be live-streamed on PCB’s YouTube Channel and as part of its policy to incentivise top performers, the PCB had doubled the event’s prize money.

As many as 42 women cricketers will be in action during this National Triangular T20 Women’s Cricket Championship.

PCB Blasters, PCB Challengers and PCB Dynamites will face off in the 10-day championship. The championship will be played on the double-league basis with the top two teams competing in the final.

Following a 100 percent increase in their domestic match fee, the women cricketers will have an added incentive to bring out the best performances.

The PCB Challengers, led by Muneeba Ali, the top-run getter and player of the tournament in the last edition, will be eager to defend the title with Rs1 million up for grabs for the championship winners. The runners-up will pocket Rs500,000.

As much as Rs50,000 will be awarded to the player of the championship, while player of the match will get Rs20,000.

Aliya Riaz and Ramin Shamim will captain PCB Blasters and PCB Dynamites, respectively.

To ensure the health and safety of the players and all those involved, the championship will be played under PCB’s Covid-19 protocols, which were announced at the commencement of the ongoing season.

The squads were integrated into a bio-secure bubble after returning two negative Covid-19 tests. They had their first testing at their residences and the second at the central station.

The championship follows a two-week-long High Performance Camp in Karachi in which 27 elite women cricketers underwent training in a bio-secure environment.

Schedule (all matches begin at 12.30pm):

22 Nov – PCB Blasters v PCB Dynamites

23 Nov – PCB Blasters v PCB Challengers

25 Nov – PCB Dynamites v PCB Challengers

26 Nov – PCB Dynamites v PCB Blasters

28 Nov – PCB Challengers v PCB Blasters

29 Nov – PCB Challengers v PCB Dynamites

1 Dec – Final

Challengers: Muneeba Ali (captain), Ayesha Naseem, Aiman Anwar, Bismah Maroof, Fatima Sana, Kaynat Hafeez, Nida Dar, Saba Nazir, Sadaf Shams, Sadia Iqbal, Saima Malik, Syeda Aroob Shah, Syeda Asma Amin (wk) and Waheeda Akhter

Blasters: Aliya Riaz (captain), Anam Amin, Anoosha Nasir, Hafsa Amjad, Huraina Sajjad, Javeria Khan, Jaweria Rauf, Khadija Chishty, Maham Tariq, Natalia Parvaiz, Noreen Yaqoob, Sidra Amin, Sidra Nawaz (wk) and Tuba Hassan

Dynamites: Rameen Shamim (captain), Aima Saleem, Ayesha Zafar, Diana Baig, Hafsa Khalid, Iram Javed, Kainat Imtiaz, Nahida Khan, Najiha Alvi (wk), Nashra Sundhu, Omaima Sohail, Subhana Tariq, Syeda Masooma Zehra Fatima and Umme Hani