Toss : Supernovas won the toss and chose to bat first

Deepti Sharma - She is arguably the best Woman all-rounder India has ever produced. Her numbers say 169 runs scored and 13 wickets in just 12 matches this year. In the last match as well she conceded only 8 runs, took a wicket and bowled a maiden in her quota of 4 overs.

Chamari Atapattu  - She has been in sublime touch this year in T20s. Her scores in the recent 6 matches read: 44 (this series), 30, 33, 50, 41 and 78*. To go with these runs, she also has taken 5 wickets in these 6 matches.

Shashikala Siriwardene - In the 6 T20 matches that she has played this year before this series, she has taken 11 wickets which includes quality opposition such as Australia, England and India. In the first match as well this series, she picked up a wicket and scored 18 runs as well.

Sophie Ecclestone - She should be the first choice bowler to be picked as she is in a purple patch currently. A look at her last 8 T20 matches this year: 4/9 (this series), 1/16, 1/15, 0/28, 2/19, 2/19, 3/7, 2/12; thus total 15 wickets in these 8 matches.

Ayabonga Khaka - She has taken 12 wickets in 11 matches this year in all T20 matches. She dismissed both the openers inside the first 3 overs in the first match this series, thus can be crucial against top order batters of Trailblazers.

Poonam Yadav - She is currently ranked 8th in the Women’s T20I bowlers ranking. She was the 2nd highest wicket taker with 10 wickets in 5 matches in the recently concluded Women’s T20 World Cup (Feb/March 2020). She picked up a wicket in the first match of this series.

Harmanpreet Kaur - Kaur was the 3rd highest run-getter in the Women’s T20 Challenge 2019; scoring 98 runs in just 3 matches at a SR of 129. In the first match as well she scored a brisk 31. As context, the last season when she played against Trailblazers, she scored 46 (34 balls). 

Jemimah Rodrigues - Jemimah was the highest run-getter in the Women’s T20 Challenge 2019; scoring 123 runs in just 3 matches at a SR of 134 which included 24 against Trailblazers.

Smriti Mandhana - Her record in T20 matches this year: 271 runs in 10 matches at SR of 132, also she hardly scores any single digit scores thus proving her consistency. Stat alert: Last season when she played against Supernovas she scored 90 (67 balls) including 3 sixes and 10 fours.

Probable XI

Trailblazers : Richa Ghosh, Smriti Mandhana, Nattakan Chantam, Dayalan Hemalatha, Punam Raut, Deandra Dottin, Deepti Sharma, Sophie Ecclestone, Salma Khatun, Jhulan Goswami, Rajeshwari Gayakwad

Supernovas : Taniya Bhatia, Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Priya Punia, Chamari Atapattu, Shashikala Siriwardene, Ayushi Soni, Poonam Yadav, Shakera Selman, Ayabonga Khaka, Radha Yadav

Preview

The Trailblazers face the Supernovas in the last game before the finals in the Women's T20 Challenge in Sharjah.

While Harmanpreet's Supernovas are coming off a loss in their last game against Velocity, Mandhana's Trailblazers were brilliant as they crushed Velocity by 9 wickets. The bowling from the Trailblazers was exceptional led by Sophie Ecclestone who blew Mithali Raj's team away with a brilliant spell of bowling. Bowling out any team for 47 is no easy task but Mandhana's team did just that. Their batting was not tested at all as they beat them with 73 balls to spare and 9 wickets in hand.

Supernovas, on the other hand, were defeated by Velocity in the opening encounter and they cannot afford a loss in this game. Their batting did not work while the bowling faltered towards the end. They now have got a good rest and will hope that they put in a better show and qualify for the finals. One good thing is that because of Velocity's massive loss on Thursday, the Supernovas have no net run-rate to think about. A win would be enough to take them through to the final.