Women's T20 Asia Cup - Uncapped 15-year-old Rishitha Rajith named in UAE squad

United Arab Emirates have named 15-year-old Rishitha Rajith in their squad for the Women's T20 Asia Cup, starting later this week in Bangladesh. Rajith, a right-arm seamer, is uncapped in international cricket.

There was, however, no room for her elder sisters Rithika and Rinitha, who were part of the last UAE squad, which finished seventh in the T20 World Cup qualifier last week.

Another teenager, Mahika Gaur, who was with Manchester Originals in the women's Hundred earlier this year, is also part of the 15-member side. The team will be led by Chaya Mughal.

UAE will be playing the T20 Asia Cup for the first time, having qualified by making the final of the Women's T20 Championship earlier in June, along with Malaysia.

The batting will revolve around Esha Oza, who is the leading run-getter for UAE in T20Is. In 41 games, she has 1119 runs at an average of 32.91 and a strike rate of 121.76. She has also scored two hundreds, and her best of 158 not out is the second highest individual score in women's T20Is.

She will be supported by Kavisha Egodage and Theertha Satish. The two were the top run-getters for the team in the qualifier tournament. Theertha scored 130 runs an average of 26.00 and a strike rate of 98.48, while Egodage collected 118 at 39.33, at a strike rate of 72.39.

Thirty-six-year-old Mughal, who has the joint-most wickets in the format for UAE, is by far the oldest player in an otherwise quite young squad.

Oza, Egodage, Theertha and Mughal were all part of the inaugural FairBreak Invitational Tournament in May this year.

"This is a historic moment for our UAE Cricket Women," Andrew Russell, Emirates Cricket Board national development manager, said in a media release. "Playing in the first-ever Women's Asia Cup is a great honour and one we are confident our ladies will take great pride in."

Robin Singh, the board's director of cricket, said, "The Asia Cup fields a line-up of impressive talent from the world of women's cricket. Over the past number of tournaments our ladies have been challenged, which they have embraced with confidence and shown a remarkable maturity to learn. This will be an incredible opportunity for them as they continue on their, and UAE Cricket Women's journey."

UAE will open their campaign against Sri Lanka on October 2. All matches will be played in Sylhet.

Squad: Chaya Mughal (capt), Esha Oza, Kavisha Egodage, Rishitha Rajith, Khushi Sharma, Theertha Satish (wk), Lavanya Keny, Priyanjali Jain, Suraksha Kotte, Natasha Cherriath, Indhuja Nandakumar, Mahika Gaur, Vaishnave Mahesh, Siya Gokhale, Samaira Dharnidharka