From Harmanpreet Kaur to Smriti Mandhana, top Indian women cricketers at different points of the time have urged the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to launch a women’s Indian Premier League, in order to help the national team develop its game.
Recently, international stars and New Zealand cricketers, Sophie Devine, Suzie Bates and Amelia Kerr also threw their weight behind the women’s IPL, saying that the tournament would be the “next big step” to grow women’s cricket.
BCCI secretary Jay Shah during the IPL 2021. Image: Sportzpics for BCCI
BCCI secretary Jay Shah in a recent interview with Hindustan Times has said that the board is looking at all the options to “organise a similar” league in India.
“We all want a league like IPL for our women cricketers, but it is not just about putting together three or four teams and announcing the launch of a women’s IPL league. There are a lot of factors that come into play like a dedicated window, availability of international stars and bilateral commitments of member boards to name a few. We are exploring all our options and working towards organising a similar league for our female players in future,” Shah said.
The women’s ODI world Cup will be held next year in March in New Zealand, but the Indian team has witnessed very little international cricket since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, the home series against South Africa in March this year came 364 days after they played in the 2020 T20 World Cup final against Australia. Since then, they have played against England and Australia.
In the board’s defense, Shah said: “To have a tournament in the middle of a pandemic is a serious risk and at no point did BCCI want to jeopardise the health and safety of the players. Also, every state had different rules and restrictions to host outdoor sporting activities. States with fewer figures opened up early while some other states understandably took time.
“Once the vaccination began to roll out, we did not look back. We had prioritized setting up women’s FTP and as a result, organised back-to-back tours of England and Australia to make up for the time we lost due to pandemic-enforced restrictions. The team will now have a preparatory camp and will travel to New Zealand (for the 2022 ODI World Cup).”
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