1. Team news - Trailblazers
Ahead of the team's first match in the Women's T20 Challenge, Trailblazers skipper Smriti Mandhana said she is more excited to get back to playing cricket than being nervous. "I think everyone is more excited than nervous because we are going to go out there after seven months," Mandhana said during the pre-match press conference. Trailblazers will play against Velocity, who defeated Supernovas by five wickets on Wednesday.
Mandhana said the coronavirus-enforced break has not had an impact on her and she looked at it as a "positive time out". "I would say last two-three months were difficult, in the first few months I spent time with my family and I was enjoying that time. In the last two-three months, we wanted to get back to playing. We started training one and a half or two months back," she said.
"I would not say it affected a lot, I would say it was more of a positive time out. We got to work on our batting and fitness and come with a positive mindset," she said.
2. Team News - Velocity
Velocity's Ekta Bisht said all credit goes to her teammates Sushma Verma and Sune Luus for their team's win against Supernovas. Velocity defeated Supernovas (/topic/supernovas) by five wickets after successfully chasing the target of 127 runs in the Women's T20 on Wednesday. "We needed 50 from last five overs, we thought it was a bit difficult but Sushma and Sune batted really well. When they started hitting, we felt we are getting closer. They played really well and all credit goes to them," Bisht said.
3. Squads
Trailblazers: Smriti Mandhana (Captain), Deepti Sharma (VC), Punam Raut, Richa Ghosh, D Hemalatha, Nuzhat Parween (WK), Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Harleen Deol, Jhulan Goswami, Simaran Dil Bahadur, Salma Khatun, Sophie Ecclestone, Natthakan Chantham, Deandra Dottin, Kashvee Gautam.
Velocity: Mithali Raj (Captain), Veda Krishnamurthy (VC), Shafali Verma, Sushma Verma (WK), Ekta Bisht, Mansi Joshi, Shikha Pandey, Devika Vaidya, Sushree Dibyadarshini, Manali Dakshini, Leigh Kasperek, Danielle Wyatt, Suné Luus, Jahanara Alam, M. Anagha.
4. Stars to watch out for
Trailblazers: Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Ecclestone, Deandra Dottin, Deepti Sharma.
Velocity: Mithali Raj, Veda Krishnamurthy, Ekta Bisht, Sune Luus, Sushma Verma.
5. Match details
Date: Thursday, November 5
Time: 3.30 PM
Live telecast: Star Sports Networks
Live streaming: Disney + Hotstar VIP