After more than six months, Team India are all set to get back in action with the Women’s T20 Challenge in November. While all the players, including overseas cricketers, have been in their mandatory quarantine period in Dubai, West Indies all-rounder, Deandra Dottin has revealed her wish. She admitted that she wants to be the first player to score a century in the Indian T20 tournament.
The Women’s T20 Challenge will take place from November 4-9 in the UAE and Dottin will represent Smriti Mandhana-led Trailblazers. Along with Mandhana, she will share the dressing room with the players like Salma Khatun, Sophie Ecclestone, Natthakan Chantham, Jhulan Goswami and others.
“I am very excited to be playing in the Women’s T20 Challenge and also for the Trailblazers. It’s been a great effort from everyone – organisers, IPL and BCCI to pull off the tournament in UAE. As a player we feel very lucky that we are getting an opportunity to play and enjoy our cricket,” said Deandra Dottin in an exclusive interaction with ANI.
“Well I’m looking to help Trailblazers to win the tournament and also be the first to score a century in the competition,” she further added.
While the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the squads and schedule on October 11, the campaign will begin with the game between Supernovas and Velocity on November 4. Notably, Supernovas won the title last year. The tournament comprised of three teams – Supernovas, Trailblazers and Velocity. Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Mithali Raj will lead the teams respectively.
While speaking about playing under the leadership of Mandhana, Dottin shared, “I rank her (Mandhana) in the top five players in the world right now, to be honest, she’s an excellent player and she can take away the game in a flash. I would like to learn how not to get into trouble with having a lot of shots in my book.”
The 29-year-old Deandra Dottin has played 118 T20Is for West Indies so far where she has scored 2,565 runs at an average of 26.44. She has 61 wickets in her name as well which came at an economy rate of 6.27. However, the all-rounder said that the Women’s T20 Challenge is a major boost for the women’s game. She also believed a full-fledged Women’s IPL in the near future will be helpful for women’s cricket.
“I think Women’s IPL is very very important to women’s cricket as it shows the interest in women’s cricket and growth. Of course, I’d love to play a global T20 league back home as well,” Dottin added.
Deandra Dottin is considered as one of the explosive batters in the world cricket. She has joined Smriti Mandhana and Co. following a successful five-match T20I series against England recently.
Deandra Dottin expressed: “To be honest I’ll have a slight advantage but cricket is played on the day and things do happen whereas you can have a long break and come back playing like you never left and that’s in you. I don’t expect rustiness from all players but they might be some here and there.”
Trailblazers Squad for Women’s T20 Challenge:
Smriti Mandhana (C), Deepti Sharma, Punam Raut, Richa Ghosh, D Hemlatha, Nuzhat Parween, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Harleen Deol, Jhulan Goswami, Simaran Dil Bahadur, Salma Khatun, Sophie Ecclestone, Natthakan Chantham, Deandra Dottin, Kashvee Gautam
Fixtures:
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