The fourth edition of the Women’s T20 Challenge is likely to be postponed by the BCCI due to the probable unavailability of overseas players in the wake of restrictions imposed by several countries on travel to and from India.
India is currently struggling to fight the COVID-19 second wave and has seen several world-record daily spikes in cases in April.
An ESPNCricinfo report said officials expected it to be difficult in terms of logistics with concerning players coming from countries like England, Australia, South Africa, West Indies, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
"Getting Indian players quarantined is not an issue even now but no foreign player is keen to travel in the current climate. We can find a window later when things get better," a top BCCI was quoted as saying by PTI.
Last year, in UAE, 12 overseas players, including Deandra Dottin, Sune Luus, Danielle Wyatt, and Nathakan Chantham, featured in the three-team tournament.
Since the beginning, the T20 Challenge has been played at a single venue, with the 2020 edition being played in Sharjah when the IPL was staged in the UAE. The 2019 event was held in Jaipur. The tournament is generally held in the playoffs week of the IPL.
For this year, the report adds that the BCCI had thought of Delhi as the host city for the T20 Challenge before the second wave.
The tournament had started off in 2018 as a one-off exhibition match comprising two teams. However, since 2019, the T20 Challenge has featured three teams – Velocity, Supernovas, and Trailblazers – competing in a total of four games, including the final, with top Indian players Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur, and Smriti Mandhana as the captains.
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