After a promising first edition, the Bengal Women’s T20 Blast is all set and ready for its 2nd edition, scheduled to run from the 5th of December at the MGR Cricket Academy Ground in Suri, Birbhum. The player draft for the upcoming 02 edition of the competition was recently held in Kolkata and the six clubs have picked their preferred players from a 90-player pool.
From its inaugural edition, the competition has retained 3 teams namely; Mohammedan Sporting (defending champions), Rajasthan Club (runners-up) and Kalighat club and the tournament this time around, in its 2nd edition will have 3 new clubs in; Mohun Bagan, Gymkhana and Baranagar Sporting.
Following the blueprints from the previous edition, the tournament will see teams with 15 players each, including a pre-assigned captain and coach.
The double round-robin format has been retained for the upcoming edition as well which will see the 6 teams play against each other twice and the top 4 then advance to the semifinals. The semifinals will have the team seeded 1st play the 4th and the 2nd and 3rd seeded teams compete for their respective spots in the Finals.
Commenting on the upcoming 02 edition, Cricket Association of Bengal’s (CAB’s) President, Mr Snehasish Ganguly, said, “The second year of the Bengal Women’s T20 Blast is upon us. Thank you to all the clubs for participating in the tournament. For Mohammedan Sporting, Rajasthan Club and Kalighat club it is the second season, and we thank you for your continued support.
“We have three new teams. This is a good platform for the players to showcase their talent to the coaches and spotters and this could be a path to the Bengal team and also Women’s IPL in future.”
Bengal’s very own and former India captain and pacer, Jhulan Goswami, on the 2nd edition of the competition said, “I will watch all the games this year. This kind of tournament make the supply line stronger and the pool of cricketers bigger. I have got a lot of data about the meet and am waiting to watch some exciting cricket over the next few days.
“I am sure this tournament will bring to fore new faces and names who would make Bengal’s women’s cricket richer. I thank CAB for organising this meet with so much care and in such a grand manner.”
(Quotes sourced from SportStar )
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