Lack of players who can meet international standards is coming in the way of women's IPL, says top BCCI official
What’s the story?
After the Indian Women’s Cricket Team’s sensational journey in the recently concluded ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 in England, there were nationwide proposals for an IPL-like tournament for the women, which could help spiral their recognition even further. However, it has been learnt by The Hindu that a tournament like IPL is ‘not immediately practicable’ for the BCCI.
The Hindu quoted a top BCCI official as saying, “A tournament on the lines of the Indian Premier League (IPL) may not be immediately practicable. The Board welcomes the idea but there are many hurdles and the biggest involves having a pool of players who would meet international standards.
“You would need at least 60 players of which 15 to 20 could be drafted from overseas. Honestly, how many players do we have like Mithali, Harmanpreet (Kaur), Smriti (Mandhana), Veda (Krishnamurthy), Deepti (Sharma) and Jhulan (Goswami). The truth is we would need players who can be termed crowd pullers,” the official added.
In case you didn’t know...
The demand for an IPL-like tournament for women was being made since a long time, but it found more support after India’s journey in the World Cup, where they emerged as runners-up after losing to 4-time winners England at the Lord’s Cricket Ground.
The heart of the matter
The official further revealed to The Hindu that the BCCI has plans of constituting a committee which would comprise of the captain, coach and a few former players. The motive of the committee would be to suggest new events to women cricket’s calendar.
They intend to conduct open trials and award contracts to more players and ensure employment to them. It would be a huge embarrassment for the board if the IPL for women does not get success, he said.
What’s next?
It will be interesting to know about the new committee that the board is planning to introduce, and the measures they will suggest to make women’s cricket more interesting for the viewers. As for now, no schedule for the women’s upcoming fixtures has been announced.
Author’s Take
Women’s IPL is not the need of the hour. What needs to be done immediately is promote women’s cricket at the grassroots and state levels, and ensure that no girl gives up on her cricketing dreams due to financial constraints.
While women’s cricket at the international level has gained support and facilities in the past few years, it is now time to provide employment and facilities to the upcoming Jhulans and Mithalis.