India’s Women Cricketers Return to Action in Club Tournament

India’s Jemimah Rodrigues, Punam Raut and Deepti Sharma are among those participating in the Nippon Cup.

Jemimah Rodrigues is one of the India cricketers taking part in the India Nippon Cup. 

(Photo: PTI)

While the year 2020 ended with more disappointment for the Indian women’s cricket team as the tour of Australia got postponed to next season, some made their way back to the field in a club tournament in T20.

In Bangalore, at the Samprasiddhi Sports Estadio, India cricketers like Jemimah Rodrigues, Punam Raut, Radha Yadav and Deepti Sharma to name a few are participating in the Nippon Cup.

The tournament celebrates the golden jubilee of the Falcon Sports Club in Bangalore.

There are four teams in the tournament - Ameya Sports, Heron Sports, KiNi RR Sports and Sheen Sports and is being played between 4-12 January.

Amongst Karnataka players, current India players like Veda Krishnamurthy, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Vanitha V R besides players like Rakshitha Krishnappa, Divya Gnananand, Prathyusha Challuru, Shubha Satish, Akanksha Kohli, Sanjana Batni, Prathyoosha Kumar are participating.

The Indian players, south Zone players, and the Karnataka state players have been equally divided in the participating teams.

The four teams will play against the other three teams twice in T20 format and the last day will witness the play off for the 3rd /4th place beside the Finals to decide the Winner/Runner.

The India players were last seen in the Women's T20 Challenge in November, an exhibition event held during the IPL play-offs which marked their return to the game following a seven-month break.

Squads:

Sheen Sports: Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Savi Surendra, Niranjana Nagarajan, Rakshitha Krishnappa (C), Jahnavi, Ellutla Padmaja, Vrinda Dinesh, Ananya Subash, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Nirmitha, Simren Henry, Prathyoosha Kumar, Krishika Reddy, Chandasi Krishnamurthy, Anushree, Sneha Jagadish, Saloni.

KiNi RR Sports: Vellaswamy Vanitha, Shishira Gowda, Punam Raut, Nuzhat Parween, Sowmya Gowda, Challuru Prathyusha (C), Mithila Vinod, Debasmita Dutta, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Sowmya Verma, Chandu V, Shloka Kishore Babu, Roshni Kiran, Disha Mohan, Architha Bhandary, Rameshwari Gayakwad, Pragna Kishore Babu, Tejaswani B G.

Ameya Sports: Veda Krishnamurthy, Mona Meshram, Anuja Patil, Thirush Kamini, Sahana Pawar, Akanksha Kohli, Nikki Prasad, Netravathi, Prerana Rajesh, Pranavi Chandra, Dhanya Gowda, Reema Fareed, Pooja Kumari, Nithyashree Kemparaj, Shrilakshmi, Prakruthi,Nagma Unnisa, Uma Kashvi, Shreyanka Patil

Heron Sports: Anagha Murali, Monica Patel, Gnanananda Divya, Sanjana Batni, Aditi Rajesh, Ayushi Soni, Shubha Satish, Akshaya S, Minnu Mani, Asha Joy, Pushpa Kiresur, Vandana Mahajan, Pooja Dhananjay, Sanjana Raj, Rakshitha Nayaka, Pooja D R, Anjali Raman, Harshitha Shekar

(With inputs from femalecricket.com)