The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is planning to stage an IPL themed tournament for women’s too after a sensational performance by the Indian team in the ongoing World Cup held in England and Wales. India has performed exceptionally so far and is just a solitary victory away from creating history and lifting the World Cup for the very first time in their lives.
“We are in talks of having a Woman’s IPL. It is still on the drawing board. But now we need to look at it seriously. To start with we need to have a 5 team affair,” Diana Edulji, a former Indian Women’s captain and a member of the Supreme Court appointed CoA was quoted as saying. The CoA sanctions the decisions made by the BCCI.
She is of the opinion that organising such tournaments will bring more girls to the game. “It will encourage more cricketers to come out and play. We will tap into a lot more talent. I am happy that the women’s are getting good coverage and they have responded well by coming to the final,” she said.
“Woman’s cricket has taken a giant leap in the last one year. The woman cricketers now have financial security, job security and central contracts. Now they know they can make a career. It is high time we encourage them to do well,” she further added. The Indian Women’s team needs encouragement like this especially after their sensational performance in the global event.
The Women in Blue began the tournament with a resounding victory over hosts England courtesy a brilliant 2 balls 90 from opener Smriti Mandhana. They won their next 3 games against West Indies, Sri Lanka and Pakistan and looked almost set for a semi final berth when two consecutive losses against Australia and South Africa pushed them to the back foot.
But they came back strongly in the last must win group game against the Kiwis and return triumphantly by a big margin. Australia were the clear favourites for the semi final but it was a one woman Harmanpreet Kaur who literally batted Australia out of the game by smashing an unbeaten 171 of a mere 115 deliveries, an innings which was constructed with 20 fours and 7 sixes.