Earlier today, we, at Female Cricket, reported that BCCI has given a much-needed green signal to women’s cricket in the country. The President of the Indian cricket governing body said that the women’s IPL is very much on.
There were reactions from around the globe when Indian cricket had left its women behind. The absence of a selection panel was making headlines in far off nations. The announcement of Women’s IPL has, too, received a lot of reactions from stars. The best word to describe these comments would be ‘mixed’.
It is interesting to note that the timing of the Women’s IPL as being widely reported is around the first week of November. This directly translates into a clash with Women’s Big Bash League scheduled around the months of October and November. Moreover, the Women’s T20 challenge will feature a fourth team for the first time.
The Australian camp is not looking very happy with the decision and has taken its disapproval openly on Twitter. Alyssa Healy started the chain of reactions when she retweeted a tweet of prominent Indian sports journalist and signaled that the clash of WBBL and WIPL may not be a good idea.
So during the WBBL…. cool https://t.co/w5aNhN9FTw
— Alyssa Healy (@ahealy77) August 2, 2020
Next was Rachael Haynes. She added, on the micro-blogging site, that it was not wise for the premiere domestic competitions to compete against each other in the scenario where women’s cricket was growing and needs its best professionals in the matches to reach masses.
Agree. If true, it’s a shame… while the game continues to grow, premier domestic competitions do not need to compete against each other. They can be used to showcase the game and support its development around the world.
— Rachael Haynes (@RachaelHaynes) August 2, 2020
It has to be noted that the chances of WBBL and WIPL confronting each other were faint if the pandemic had not disrupted the original plans of BCCI unlike past normal years.
Alysa Healy is of the opinion that hosting the T20 Challenge while the WBBL would be on may not be a good idea.
What do you think? Comment down your thoughts 👇#WomensIPL #BCCI pic.twitter.com/BOpj842Nmc
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) August 2, 2020
Women’s IPL was organized alongside IPL in the summers. While Aussies have expressed their reservations over the tournament, Indians have celebrated the decision and important figures like Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami have appreciated and thanked the top decision-makers of BCCI for the event which they consider would bring the Indian women’s cricket break on track as Indian women have not played an international game since their outing in the world cup finals at Melbourne.
This is excellent news . Our ODI World Cup campaign to finally kick start . A big thank you to @SGanguly99 @BCCI @JayShah and thank you @BoriaMajumdar for your support to women’s cricket . https://t.co/JpJSMGapzV
— Mithali Raj (@M_Raj03) August 2, 2020
All was not over as Healy then went on to exchange a few words with Indian Journalist Boria Majumdar. Both had differing views and some harsh expressions were thrown from both sides. While Healy was all in against the clash, Boria emphasized on the importance of the tournament for women cricketers.
For fans, a season of WBBL and WIPL with complete players would have brought more joy but the pandemic seems to have destroyed all the normal notions that we had about the game. Spectators and players should adapt to the need and preferably get the improvisation off the field too.
A student who enjoys studying cricket more than anything else, keen to learn the insights of the women’s game.