The tournament which started in 2009, two years after the introduction of a T20 World Cup in men’s format, the Women’s ICC World T20 has come a long way. After being played in the shadow of men’s cricket and minimal exposure on media, the ICC Women’s World T20 which commences from 9th of November, will now receive a much deserved focus and limelight.
The Women’s game overall and especially the T20 format have matured by leaps and bounds and have become even more engaging. No longer does Women’s cricket have to be associated with heroes from men’s cricket, but the Women’s game has her own legends and big names to play with. Players like Meg Lanning, Ellyse Perry, Smriti Mandhana, Mithali Raj, Stafanie Taylor, Suzie Bates, Danielle Wyatt and others have their own huge fan following and have become a source of inspiration for fans across the globe.
Some interesting key features of the sixth edition of the ICC Women World T20 tournament are –
For the first time in Cricket history, the tournament will be contested as a standalone event rather than being a support to the Men’s event. All the ICC events prior to this were played in the shadow of Men’s main event. The ICC Women’s World T20 has been able to achieve this feat basis the exposure of women cricketers and the increase in fan following since the success of ICC World Cup 2017.
Also, for the first time, just like its men counterparts, the teams will have the services of Decision Review System. Each team will be entitled for one DRS decision per innings.
The tournament will receive its widest ever broadcast since its inception. Live coverage will span across 200 countries on both television and digital platforms. A survey conducted revealed that more than 70% of cricket fans wish to watch more of Women’s cricket. (Source – https://www.icc-cricket.com/
Edge detection technology and ball tracking will aid the DRS. It is for the first time that this technology will be implemented in any of the ICC World T20 events. Hawk-eye will provide the desired support for this.
Most of the teams now have dedicated coaches, support staff, performance analysts, fitness coaches with focus not just on the game but beyond it as well.
As many as 19 women cricketers will feature in their 6th edition which is as much as the tournament editions itself.
Also Read : First Standalone Women’s T20 World Cup tournament gets widest broadcast coverage
Also, a dedicated team of well known commentators will feature on the various broadcast networks for us fans to gain more insights on pre-match, during the match and post-match analysis.
A lot of deserved attention which the game has now received can be attributed to the previous edition of World T20 when the Windies overcame the mighty Aussies, the success of ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 and other standalone tournaments conducted in Australia and England over the past year or so.
Australia has been the winner of this tournament on 3 prior occasions and England has also won the opening edition of the tournament. However, the inspired Caribbean team overcame the Aussies in the 2016 edition giving global fans the opportunity to look beyond the top 2 making it even more competitive.
Another key point has been the success of ICC Women World Cup 2017 edition, which saw the Indian Women’s team compete alongside the likes of strong teams like Australia, New Zealand and England, but ultimately lost to English in the finals by a narrow margin. However, the progress of the Indian team has helped in improving the popularity across the globe and other teams too have done well to increase the eyeballs this game receives.
Also, cricket T20 leagues in Australia (WBBL) and England (Kia Super League) has increased the popularity of the game and more new fans are getting attracted to the new look female T20 edition.
The precursor to the main event which starts from Friday has been an exciting one and certainly on track. The fans of the game can no longer wait for the event to start and we can be rest assured that there will be a lot of firecrackers, entertainment and moments for lovers of the game to cherish forever.
A digital marketing consultant by profession, a student of strategy and business. Food lover, passionate about Cricket and a huge fan of the Windies cricket team.
