Women’s cricket has got an increasing number of support and views since the past year. This continuous boost to the sport has not only increased the morale of the players but has also opened up doors to introduce some new tournaments commonly heard in men’s cricket.
The biggest of which is the franchise leagues. While the demand for a full-fledged edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Women is in talks in India, Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ramiz Raja has brought to the media with a video message that the board is planning for a women’s edition of Pakistan Super League (PSL) to commence soon. This comes in after an exceptional performance by their men’s team in the ongoing T20 World Cup in UAE, having won all of the group stage matches which has led to a good recognition of the board and PCB doesn’t want to miss this opportunity they have got after facing a big loss due to some countries refusing to play their scheduled matches there citing security concerns after Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan.
If PSL for women successfully gets underway, Pakistan would become Asia’s first country to start a franchise league for women. Currently, Australia’s Women Big Bash League (WBBL) whose seventh edition is currently underway, and England’s The Hundred which had its inaugural edition earlier this year are the only such tournaments for women. Though India did organize a T20 challenge, it had just three teams participating which means just a handful of matches were played.
PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja hints at launching the Women’s version of PSL 😃#WomensPSL pic.twitter.com/HskxivMSpS
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) November 10, 2021
Apart from PSL for women, PCB is also planning to introduce PSL for under-19 players as said by Raja who further expressed his gratitude to Australia and England who agreed to tour Pakistan next year. The Australian team would be visiting the country after 24 years while England, who canceled their scheduled tour in October, has further added a couple of T20Is to compensate for the loss.
In a video posted by the Pakistan Cricket Board, Ramiz Raja said, “In October, hopefully, we will launch something like a PSL for Under-19 level cricket. We are very excited because this has not happened anywhere in the world. England will send their Under-19 players; we will look after them. We will create a new property.”
Play with pride and passion!
PCB chairman Ramiz Raja has a special message for Babar Azam’s team. #WeHaveWeWill | #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/fS0rghZ4nG
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) November 10, 2021
He further added that “Women’s PSL is also on my mind. Hopefully, we can become the first cricket board in Asia to launch it.”
Let’s see how soon we get to see Asia’s first women franchise league and which country is able to grab the opportunity well.
Loves all things female cricket