Lahore: As many as 42 women cricketers will be in action in the PKR 1.7million National Triangular T20 Women's Cricket Championship, which will be played at the Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi, from November 22 till December 1.
PCB Blasters, PCB Challengers, and PCB Dynamites will face off for national glory in the 10-day championship, which provides a chance for these cricketers to showcase their talent.
The championship will be played on a double-league basis with the top two teams competing in the final on December 1.
Following a 100 per cent increase in their domestic match-fee, the women cricketers will have an added incentive to bring out the best performances as the PCB has doubled the prize money for the event from the last season.
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 PKR 1million up for grabs for the championship winners. The runners-up will pocket PKR 500,000.
PKR 50,000 will be awarded to the player of the championship, while the player of the match will get PKR 20,000.
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. As such, the squads were integrated into a bio-secure bubble after returning two negative Covid-19 tests. They had their first testing at their residences, followed by 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.
Squads of three teams are as follows:
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.