T20 champs snubbed for WT20 challenge

While the likes of Bangladesh pacer Jahanara Alam have been picked by one of the three teams that will contest the Women’s T20 Challenge on the sidelines of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as snubbed any and all players from Women’s World Twenty20 champions Australia.

A one-off IPL exhibition match was staged last year and Australia fielded the largest overseas contingent, with Meg Lanning, Megan Schutt, Ellyse Perry, Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney all making the trip.

Australia romped to the T20 World Cup title in the West Indies last year, and in Healy has the world’s best T20 player, according to the ICC.

Of the 39 players named in the three IPL Women’s Challenge teams, 12 are foreign players, with each team having four foreign players.

Of the foreign players, four are from New Zealand, three each from the West Indies and England, and one each from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. South Africa and Pakistan will be playing a series that clashes with the triangular tournament.

Australian players are required to be in Brisbane for an Ashes training camp that starts on May 13.

Healy and Lanning indicated last month they would jump at the chance to return to India this year and play more T20 fixtures alongside the world’s best.

“One hundred per cent,” Healy said.

“It would be fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed that experience.”