How the parallel IPL can be the beginning of a new era
Indian Premier League aims to promote Cricket in India and to provide a platform for the local players to play at the higher level, to get the best possible environment for developing themselves into professionals and to provide vast entertainment to the Cricket Fans all over the world. IPL has emerged as one of the best sports league in the world.
BCCI has taken a huge step for the development of women's cricket by announcing women's T20 exhibition match, which is to be played ahead of the IPL 2018 playoffs Qualifier 1 match as a part of the Indian premier league.
This might be the first step towards women's IPL, a counterpart to men's IPL. The match will be played on the 22nd of May (Tuesday) at Wankhede stadium, Mumbai.
The exhibition match will be played between two teams, IPL Trailblazers and IPL Supernovas which will include the top international players in women's cricket.
Here, we look at how the parallel IPL can be the beginning of a new era.
#1 A new platform for women's cricket
Indian women team deserves something like this to showcase their talent and promote the game especially after a remarkable 2017 World Cup campaign where they fell just short of a maiden title.
If this experiment of exhibition match works successfully, then we might get to see the women's IPL in the next two to three years.
The BCCI has shown signs for the establishment of women's T20 league edition of the most successful cricket league in the world, Indian premier league.
"We are planning to get a women's IPL in place in two to three years" - Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) administrator Vinod Rai told AFP.
Women's T20 league isn't a new concept and has tasted success in Women's Big Bash League. WBBL started in the 2015-16 season alongside the Australian T20 league, Big Bash League.
Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Veda Krishnamurthy among others paying with foreign stars will be a unique experience and something that we have not witnessed here in India.
Since overseas players are a vital part of the IPL teams, women's IPL can help create good relations between players around the globe.