It's going to be a challenging first assignment: Neetu David on picking the squads for the Women’s T20 challenge

The newly appointed chairperson of the Indian women’s national team, Neetu David, believes that picking the squads for the upcoming Women’s T20 challenge will be a tough task with there being hardly any cricket in India owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, David was optimistic about finding the right promising prospects for the tournament scheduled to be played between the 1st and 10th of November 2020 in the UAE.

"These are, of course, unprecedented times; the pandemic has made any cricket close to impossible in India at the moment,” said Neetu David to ESPN Cricinfo, lamenting the adverse effects of the pandemic. “It's not an ideal pre-tournament situation for any team, in any sport, in any country, so when it comes to selecting the squads for the Women's T20 Challenge, it's going to be a challenging first assignment of sorts, but it's not impossible to pick promising lesser-known players.”

Neetu David believes that the expertise and knowledge of the selection panel in identifying the local players will come in handy while picking the squads. ”We are awaiting guidelines from the BCCI on how the board expects us to proceed. The players are mentally ready and eager to get back on the field, they have been training in their respective towns. And having known and played with some of my fellow selectors in this panel, and also given Mithu Mukherjee has formerly been a national selector, we are looking forward to working as a team and introducing new players from our current domestic pool, who we think are exciting India prospects. They have the potential to do well in the T20 Challenge,” David added.

[ESPNCricinfo inputs]