The Women’s T20 Challenge, which was inaugurated in 2018, wasn’t played in 2021 because of issues related to COVID-19. However, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has confirmed that the tournament will return this year and will be played during the IPL 2022 playoffs.
The popularity of Women’s cricket has been growing steadily in India. Following Team India’s outstanding performances, which culminated in second-place finishes in both the 2017 Women’s World Cup and the 2020 World T20, fans and experts started taking more note of the cricketers and their accomplishments.
Cricket boards in several countries have begun popular T20 leagues. However, despite the demands of a Women’s Indian Premier League being persistent for the last few years, the Board of Control for Cricket in india is yet to capitalize on that.
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Instead, the board has conducted three seasons of the Women’s T20 Challenge which is usually held alongside IPL playoffs. The tournament began in 2018 but was last played in the same year. The Women’s T20 Challenge wasn’t held last year due to issues related to COVID-19.
BCCI chairman Sourav Ganguly has confirmed that the Women’s T20 Challenge will be back this year and also shed light on the timeline for the event. The former Indian cricketer also mentioned that he’s hopeful about conducting a Women’s IPL once the number of women’s players increases.
“The Women’s T20 Challenge will again be back this year in the month of May. Hopefully, in the future, we will be able to host a bigger women’s IPL once the number of women players goes up. But this year, the Women’s T20 Challenge will happen during the IPL playoffs,”
he was quoted as saying by Sportstar.
Ganguly added that the domestic season in women’s cricket is likely to begin in a month when the third wave of COVID-19 dies down. The season is expected to begin with the Cooch Behar Trophy.
“We have time for the Cooch Behar Trophy. Let this COVID settle down a bit, we can hold it because it is just at the knockout stage and only a few matches are pending. We can do it in April-May.
“Similarly, with the women’s tournament, we will do it as well. We are presuming that in another month, the number of cases will go down and we can host it,”
he said.
