The WBBL will also kick off on October 19 and go on until December 2, and will also clash partially with India’s busy international home season. In the current FTP, India are set to host South Africa and New Zealand from September-end to October-end for 12 white-ball games, and then host England and Australia from mid-December to mid-January for one Test each, and a combined nine ODIs and T20Is. Mandhana, apart from being deputy to captain Harmanpreet Kaur, is also an important all-format player for India.
India’s women’s domestic season will begin with the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy, to be played from October 19 to November 9. It will be followed by the Senior Women’s Inter-Zonal Trophy, from November 24 to December 4, while after a month, the Senior Women’s One-Day Trophy will run from January 4 to 26. Among the senior women’s tournaments, the T20 Challenger Trophy and the Inter-Zonal One Day Trophy are missing from the calendar which was announced by the BCCI in April this year.
The women’s calendar saw the addition of the inaugural WPL earlier this year, in which Mandhana was the most expensive player for INR 3.4 crore at the auction, and also captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore, who won just two of their eight games and finished second from bottom.