On Monday, the world was taken by storm when a whopping sum of Rs. 12,715 crore was bid for two new teams that will be a part of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Ahmedabad and Lucknow will be the two new entrants into this blockbuster T20 league.
While most of the cricketing fraternity and the fans were overjoyed, some expressed disappointment as there was no news of women’s IPL starting any time soon. IPL is 13 years old now and still, there is no women’s IPL in India. There is seldom any doubt that the Indian women cricketers have done well at the big stage to deserve a separate T20 league for them. Some of the players like Harmanpreet Kaur, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Smriti Mandhana, Radha Yadav, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, and Poonam Yadav have been picked to play the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) in Australia, however, there are no signs yet of India getting a women’s IPL.
Australian star Alyssa Healy couldn’t hide her disappointment after women’s cricket was again overlooked.
Here’s what she had to say about the missing news around Women’s T20 Challenge 👇
Source: https://t.co/SfrbdrcHW3 pic.twitter.com/bYhXCrDt3p
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) October 28, 2021
Australia’s star wicket-keeper bat did not shy away from expressing her disappointment after women’s cricket was again overlooked amid a $2bn spending spree to create two new IPL teams.
“I feel like I have made some thoughts known in the past about the way that has unfolded. From a personal perspective it was disappointing they postponed the women’s exhibition games. They did everything they possibly could to put the back end of the IPL on (after it was abandoned in April) leading into a World Cup and then within a week of that starting they have two new men’s IPL teams. They’ve made all those moves and there’s still no word on whether they are even going to play the postponed exhibition games. They just got a $2bn payday and hopefully some of that will go back into women’s cricket and maybe a women’s IPL in the near future. But we want to see it happen, we want to see world cricket really strong and that’s the next step, for India to put on a showcase of an event and show the world how good these young Indian players are,” said Healy as reported by news.com.au.
Healy believes that the eight Indian players playing the WBBL have added a “whole new element”. “Hopefully, it might start the conversation back in India about the women’s IPL. I know they would be really excited to see more of those exhibition games. A women’s IPL would be ideal, but just to showcase the talent they have got. I would just love to see them get as much opportunity as possible,” said Healy.
2 New Teams announced for the Men’s IPL. Great 😃
ZERO Teams announced for Women’s IPL 🥲 #IPLNewTeam
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) October 25, 2021
Meanwhile, two Indian players, namely, Jemimah Rodrigues (5) and Richa Ghosh (8), sit in the top-10 run-scorers in this season’s WBBL.
This article is the summary of the original article published on news.com.au
I am a former cricketer having represented Mumbai University at All India University level. I was a part of MCA probables for the U-19 and U-23 age group. I have been an avid cricket writer for the last five years. Currently I am pursuing my Ph.D from IIT Bombay.
