Trinbago Knight Riders Rope In Jemimah Rodrigues, Shikha Pandey For Women’s Caribbean Premier League 2024

New Delhi: India cricketers Jemimah Rodrigues and Shikha Pandey have been signed by Trinbago Knight Riders for the upcoming season of Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL), the franchise announced on Sunday. Winners of the inaugural edition, TKR have also signed Australian pair of Meg Lanning and Jess Jonassen besides retaining five Caribbean players.

The retained players are captain Deandra Dottin, wicketkeeper Kycia Knight, speedster Shamila Connell, Zaida James and Samara Ramnath. This is also the first time both Rodrigues and Pandey will be a part of the WCPL. Earlier, Shreyanka Patil was the only Indian cricketer to have played in WCPL. The remaining six slots in the 15-member squad will be filled in the WCPL Draft in July.

“This is the first time I’ll be coming to the WCPL. I’ve played for India in the Caribbean quite a bit, but I’m really excited that I’ll be representing the Knight Riders in WCPL. We all know the legacy that they have across the globe. Even the TKR Women’s team, champions of 2022, are a very proud side,” Rodrigues said in a statement.

“I believe this tournament is also going to serve as a very good preparation for us leading up to the Women’s World T20 in October, with some of the best players in the world taking part in the competition,” added the right-hander, who is coming after back-to-back half-centuries against South Africa in the recently concluded Test match and first T20I in Chennai.