In the ongoing Weber Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL), there are eight Indian players, namely, Deepti Sharma, Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav, Richa Ghosh, Shafali Verma, and Smriti Mandhana participating. These Indian stars have had a significant impact in the WBBL courtesy of their stellar performances with the bat, ball, and also on the field.
Playing for Melbourne Renegades, Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues are among the top five batters in the tournament, with Kaur having scored 309 runs in nine matches and Rodrigues having mustered 293 runs in nine matches. Kaur also has 12 wickets in her kitty and has a strong chance of becoming the player of the season.
With these Indian players doing well in WBBL, starting women’s IPL soon has been the topic of discussion in recent times.
Harmanpreet Kaur on Women’s IPL
“I hope we will also get a platform like that,” We have so many young players, if we get that platform it will be really good for us,” said Kaur expressing her desire to see a women’s IPL.
Jemimah Rodrigues on Women’s IPL
“If you see the standard of the Australia and England girls, it’s not that we don’t have that much skill but the amount of exposure they get to (playing under pressure) helps them improve so much. I know the pressure of playing in front of a crowd, under lights, televised on TV … as a young kid these things are so new for us. But if a youngster goes in the women’s IPL and (is exposed) to all those things, then gets selected for India, she’ll be in a familiar place and it’ll be easier for her to go and express herself. I think it’s high time, it’ll just make women’s cricket better in India”, Rodrigues told cricket.com.au before the start of the tournament.
“That’s the next step for Indian Women’s cricket – I think, having an 8 team IPL or whatever team BCCI decides, that’s going to add a lot of depth to women’s cricket in India.”
– Smriti Mandhana on what it means to have Women’s IPL. #WomensIPL pic.twitter.com/wRszk05VDg
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) November 12, 2021
Smriti Mandhana on Women’s IPL
Smriti Mandhana said, “(A women’s IPL) is the next step. Having an eight-team IPL or however many teams, it’ll add a lot of depth. We’ve seen what the WBBL has done for the Australian team and the standard is going up, even their bench, that’s what these leagues do too.”
Harmanpreet Kaur on Women’s IPL
India’ T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur hoped that India gets more and more games before the World Cup that will be played in New Zealand next year starting March 4. “It is great for us getting back-to-back games before the World Cup to prepare ourselves well. Right now we don’t have any information (about the T20 Challenge), (so) I hope when we go back we’ll get those games because they’re very important for our domestic players. Our international players are getting experience in the Big Bash and The Hundred, and (the T20 Challenge) would give our domestic players experience playing with overseas players,” Kaur said.
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