Days after BCCI President Sourav Ganguly raised hopes of a full-fledged women’s IPL next year (2023), the board’s secretary Jay Shah today expressed his support on the same.
As reported by Reuters, Jay Shah wrote in an email
“I want to assure you that BCCI is not only sincere but is taking all necessary steps to start a full-fledged women’s league similar to the IPL soon,”
The huge interest among fans and players towards the Women’s T20 Challenge is an encouraging sign and we are all committed to making it happen.” He added
This statement comes after an increasing demand for a full-fledged Women’s IPL by the growing fan base of women’s cricket. The demand that saw support coming from foreign players as well, surged after an exceptional performance by our women’s team during the 7th edition of Australia’s franchise league WBBL as well as in The Hundreds organized by ECB and on the team’s tour to Australia.
“I want to assure you that BCCI is not only sincere but is taking all necessary steps to start a full-fledged women’s league similar to the IPL soon,”
~ BCCI Secretary Jay Shah told Reuters.#WomensIPL pic.twitter.com/himEDNsK8G
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) February 7, 2022
Last week the board confirmed the start of the Women’s T20 Challenge during the playoffs of IPL 2022 in May. Women’s T20 Challenge is a short tournament consisting of 3 teams- Supernovas, Trailblazers, and Velocity each having players both from India and overseas.
Meanwhile, Jay Shah also commented on the men’s edition of the IPL that is scheduled to begin in the last week of March. He confirmed that the BCCI is planning to stage the league which is considered as the biggest festival of Indian Cricket in India itself but is closely monitoring the Covid-19 situation as well. He further responded to PCB’s proposal of a 4-nation T20I series saying,
Expanding the game was more important than such a “commercial initiative”
“With the IPL window expanding and the ICC (global) events every year in the cycle, our primary responsibility is to safeguard bilateral cricket at home, with emphasis on test cricket,”
Further adding, “Expansion of the sport is a challenge that our game faces and we must prioritize it over any short-term commercial initiative.”
The Indian Women’s team would start their packed 2022 cricket season on Wednesday in New Zealand with the T20I and then 5 ODIs. This would be followed by the ICC Women’s World Cup where the team led by the legendary Mithali Raj will begin their campaign on March 6 against Pakistan as the women in blue aim for their first World Cup title in what most probably would be Raj’s last appearance in the big tournament.
Author of the poetry book ‘The Scent of Rhythm’, I am a passionate writer and a Sports enthusiast who writes on Cricket and plays Badminton.