What comes as another blow to Indian cricket, the Women’s T20 challenge might get postponed or even cancelled this year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The tournament was scheduled to take place during the Playoffs stage of the current edition of the IPL.
The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc in India. The nation is facing an unprecedented surge of Covid-19 cases, with over 3 lakh cases reported every day for a week now. The second wave of Covid-19 has impacted the world of sports as well, with reports stating that the Women’s T20 Challenge this year might not be held.
A woman cricketer stated the players would be disappointed with this decision as they hoped the tournament would allow them to prepare for the upcoming series against England in June. She further added that all the calls to the BCCI have gone unanswered, and this will affect women’s cricket badly.
“This is devastating news for us. We genuinely thought this edition will give us some very important game time before we take on the English side. All comes crashing down now. Calls have gone unanswered at the moment. That was the least we expected,”
said the Woman cricketer as quoted by Cricket.com.
Moreover, a BCCI official claimed that the main focus right now is to ensure that the 2021 edition of the IPL is conducted safely. However, BCCI is facing another major concern here as some of the Australian players have pulled out of the tournament, citing personal reasons.
The Women’s T20 Challenge is a tournament that has been taking place since 2017. The tournament features 3 Women’s teams that compete against each other while the final stage of the IPL is underway.
Last year, the marquee tournament was held in the United Arab Emirates, and the Trailblazers ended up winning the coveted trophy. Led by Smriti Mandhana, the side defeated the Supernovas by 16 runs in the final of the tournament. Mandhana was awarded the Player of the Match award for scoring 68 off just 49 deliveries.
