Sharjah: Mithali Raj-led Velocity will look to confirm their berth in the Women's T20 Challange final when they take on Smriti Mandhana's Trailblazers in the second match of WT20 in Sharjah on Thursday.
Velocity would be high on confidence as they are coming into the match on the back of their first win over Supernovas in this tournament. On the other hand, Mandhana-led Trailblazers would look to start the tournament on a high note by winning their opening match.
On Wednesday, Mithali opted to field first after winning the toss and Ekta Bisht, Leigh Kasperek and Jahanara Alam restricted Supernovas to 126/8 in their allotted 20 overs.
After restricting Velocity to 126/8, Sushma Verma and Sune Luus’ guided their side to five-wicket victory to make a winning start.
The last time when both the side faced each-other, Velocity emerged victorious by three wickets and in the process, the Mithali Raj-led outfit qualified for last year's WT20 final.
And when Trailblazers would take the field on Thursday, they will be keen to make amends this time around and hence, will target a winning start.
Trailblazers' skipper Mandhana, who has close to 3750 runs in the ODIs and T20Is, is also their prime batter. She will be supported by her India teammates Punam Raut and Richa Ghosh and Harleen Deol in the batting department.
Natthakan Chantham, who is the first player from Thailand to take part in Women's T20 Challenge, is also part of Trailblazers. In the allrounder department, they have Deepti Sharma, Deandra Dottin and Salma Khatun.
Ace Indian seamer Jhulan Goswami and World Number 1 T20I bowler Sophie Ecclestone would lead Trailblazers' bowling unit.
Squads:
Trailblazers Squad: Smriti Mandhana(c), Punam Raut, Deandra Dottin, Dayalan Hemalatha, Deepti Sharma, Salma Khatun, Nuzhat Parween(w), Nattakan Chantam, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Sophie Ecclestone, Jhulan Goswami, Harleen Deol, Richa Ghosh, Kashvee Gautam, Simran Bahadur
Velocity Squad: Mithali Raj(c), Shafali Verma, Danielle Wyatt, Veda Krishnamurthy, Sune Luus, Shikha Pandey, Leigh Kasperek, Sushma Verma(w), Ekta Bisht, Jahanara Alam, Devika Vaidya, Meghna Singh, Sushree Dibyadarshini, Manali Dakshini, Anagha Murali
