Cricket Board planning mini women’s T20 event during IPL theysay
› BCCI would decide the teams as there are no proper bidders interested in buying women’s teams. BCCI OFFICIAL, on the issues
› At the max, we can have three teams with Harmanpreet, Smriti and may be Mithali (Raj) leading. BCCI OFFICIAL, on the teams
NEW DELHI: After staging a lone exhibition tie before last year’s IPL qualifier, the cricket Board is planning a minor expansion of women’s T20 matches during the coming IPL season. It could be two teams playing three games or a three-team affair lasting just over a week.
However, a full-fledged women’s IPL on the lines of the Women’s Big Bash League in Australia or the Super League in England is a long way off as BCCI finds it difficult to get good investors or bidders for teams, according to a cricket official.
Last year, IPL Trailblazers and IPL Supernovas, led by Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur respectively, played the lone tie at the Wankhede Stadium.
The BCCI wants to scale it up and set the ball rolling for a women’s IPL in a few years.
“The women’s T20 matches will be held this year also. It will be (over) a week to 10 days during IPL. Once BCCI gets clearance from the Election Commission and Home Ministry on dates (IPL schedule), the itinerary will be fixed,” a senior board official told PTI on condition of anonymity.
The official said it would be difficult to have more than three teams as India’s bench strength in women’s cricket was poor.
“At the max, we can have three teams with Harmanpreet, Smriti and may be Mithali (Raj) leading --- they play each other once and the top two play a decider.”
The official said: “BCCI would decide the teams as there are no proper bidders interested in buying women’s teams. We might rope in a few good sponsors. At the moment, BCCI will have to pay the players, including the match fees of foreign players, and decent prize money.”
The official added: “Kindly check when most of the senior team girls have made their debuts how many new performers we have got save Jemimah Rodrigues. Recently India A lost by 300-plus runs against Australia, which tells you the story.”
BCCI will also have to convince official broadcasters Star Sports to show the games live, or at least live stream it.
One suggestion is to take the games to a Tier II city to draw crowds but logistics could prove a problem. So, it will either be a 4pm match before the men’s game or a 7pm match a day before the men’s game at an IPL venue.