India clearly looked a side which had not played for a long time in the opener of the five-match series as they lost by eight wickets

The series, comprising five ODIs and three T20Is, will mark the Indian women's return to competitive cricket after almost 12 months

Englishwoman Ecclestone, ranked number one in the ICC T20 rankings, was well supported by veteran Jhulan Goswami (2/13) and Rajeshwari Gaekawad (2/13) as Trailblazers dismissed Velocity in 15.1 overs.

T20 Challenge will mark the beginning of the Indian women's cricket season with foreign stars like Deandra Dottin, Sophie Ecclestone, Danielle Wyatt, Chamari Atapattu also taking part in it

Check squads, team captains, schedule and everything else about the Women's T20 Challenge during IPL 2020

Smriti Mandhana also acknowledged the efforts the BCCI is putting in to make Women's IPL a reality

The video has messages from BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, Smriti Mandhana, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Harmanpreet Kaur, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid and Mithali Raj

Smriti Mandhana's disappointing ICC Women's T20 World Cup, that saw her manage a top score of 17 in four innings, continued as India sunk to 99 all out against Australia in the final

On the eve of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup final against Australia, India opener Smriti Mandhaana was seen hitting the balls in the nets

All you need to know about the India vs Australia final match of the 2020 ICC Women's T20 Cricket World Cup