Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana And Jemimah Rodrigues Will Not Play In WBBL 2019
Sep 28, 2019 at 3:00 PM
Indian women’s T20I skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, swashbuckling Smriti Mandhana and youngster Jemimah Rodrigues will not play in Women’s Big Bash League 2019. This year tournament will start earlier than usual from 18th October to 8th December 2019.
The three Indian players will not be able to play WBBL because of clashing of dates with international matches. The team is currently busy against South Africa series in home ground. The tour will end on October 14 with five T20I and three ODI matches against South Africa. After this series, they will play the international series against the host side Windies women.
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Indian Women’s team is packed with tight Schedule. The team is busy with the preparation for next year’s T20 World Cup. The team will have a tri-series involving England and Australia from January 31 to February 12. Because of which Harmanpreet Kaur would have not got the contract from Sydney Thunder.
Smriti Mandhana will not be seen in the league after her debut in 2016-17. Jemimah Rodrigues who played in Kia Super League was not able to make her debut in WBBL.
BCCI’s general manager (cricket operations) Saba Karim said that they have no intention to discourage players to participate in leagues. But they should also not forget their duty for the national team.
“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,” Karim told ESPNcricinfo. “In this case, there’s an international series to be played, so that will automatically be on top of their list of priorities,” he added.
The 23-year-old Smriti Mandhana has played 50 ODIs and 59 T20Is. She has scored 1951 in ODIs and 1319 in T20Is. She is famous to hit long shots and is unbeatable. The player made her debut in the WBBL for Brisbane Heat.
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Rodrigues, who will not be able to make her debut in WBBL, has played amazingly in England’s T20 League. She played for Yorkshire Diamonds and was the second-highest run-scorer in the league.