The women’s IPL has been on cards for a long time, but the most BCCI could manage until now is the women’s T20 challenge, which has garnered response despite having just three teams and minimal number of matches. However, for the global female superstars to come together for a month or two to play together with the Indian contingent will be a different experience altogether.
Australian superstar Ellyse Perry, who was named ICC Cricketer of the Decade last year, is hoping that the BCCI can manage a full-fledged women’s IPL in the coming years.
“I actually think it is even more so an encouragement for other boards to seriously look at introducing professional women’s T20 competitions, particularly the BCCI and a full IPL for women.
Because there is a wonderful opportunity there and it’s increasingly becoming a great commercial opportunity for cricket boards to bring in a women’s side of the competition,”
she told in an interview with The Age.
“Not just from a spectacle or entertainment point of view, but also because growing the game in their country and getting more young girls playing cricket and being involved is so important to the viability of the sport in the future,”
Perry added.
No signs yet of the 4th edition of WTC
The Women’s T20 Challenge was inaugurated in 2018, which included three teams – IPL Trailblazers, IPL Supernovas and IPL Velocity. The tournament has garnered attention from the Indian audience and some global superstars of the women’s game, which has been seen as a great stepping stone towards launching a tournament along the Big Bash League scale.
As it stands, the fourth edition of this tournament is very much in jeopardy. Initially it was supposed to be played after the IPL schedule, but after the tournament was postponed indefinitely in May, the women’s event too was suspended with no clarity over when it will be organized. It could be tough for the tournament to be organized in UAE as the T20 World Cup follows soon after.
