In quite an unfortunate incident, Cricket Australia has stopped women cricketers from participating in women’s IPL to be held in Jaipur from May 6 to May 11. The likes of Meg Lanning, Alyssa Healy and Ellyse Perry are among those who miss out on the mega-event.
Ironically, men’s cricket has once again become the reason behind this as CA and BCCI are having a tussle over a men’s bilateral series next year. The BCCI says that its counterpart Down Under is indulging in “blackmail” and that an email from them clearly indicates that stopping the women cricketers is a “pressure tactic”.
The email excerpt is as follows –
“We will be in a position to consider the request when the current issue regarding the men’s ODI series that was agreed in the FTP for late January 2020 is resolved by Rahul (BCCI CEO Rahul Johri) and Kevin (CA CEO Kevin Roberts). I understand that this is being worked through at present,” Clarke wrote an e-mail to the IPL operations team.
A senior BCCI official said, “If you look at the contents of Belinda’s email, it is clear that they are resorting to blackmailing tactics. How is releasing women players related to men’s series. It was agreed as per FTP and they want to backtrack now”. Also he added that ever since this mail received by BCCI on April 5, there hasn’t been a single communication from CA and we had no option but to name the teams. Using women players to sort out men’s cricket issue is in bad taste.
‘Gully’ cricket player and close observer of Indian Cricket team and it’s matches. Straight forward and still socially admirable personality. Strong belief in teamwork and possess high leadership skills.