BCCI announces captains for the women's IPL-style exhibition game

The Women’s T20 Challenge Match is set to be played on May 22 at the Wankhede Stadium ahead of the first qualifier of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had cleared earlier that an exhibition game between the teams BCCI XI and IPL XI will be played. This will be a huge occasion for the Women Cricket as there was a huge demand for staging an IPL-style league in order to promote the game. However, Harmanpreet Singh and Smriti Mandhana have been named the captains of the team for the match.

The BCCI confirmed the news on their official website even as the likes of Danielle Wyatt, Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney among many others will take part in the game. The official squads are yet to be named and it will be finalised soon. Harmanpreet had lit up the World Cup last year in England with a fantastic knock of 171* against Australia in the semi-final even as Smriti has been the lynchpin of the Indian team ever since her exploits in the same tournament.

IPL chairman delighted

The chairman of the IPL, Rajiv Shukla, was delighted to announce that the BCCI is taking the efforts to promote Women’s Cricket. “Even as IPL continues to roll like a well-oiled machine, over the last couple of weeks, efforts were made to put in place a similar structure for women cricketers. We were in talks with several Boards and I am pleased with the outcome. This special game will be played at Mumbai’s iconic Wankhede Stadium and will be telecast live in India and across the world.” he said according to the statement released.

He also revealed a few names of the foreign cricketers who will participate in the one-off game. “White Ferns captain Suzie Bates, attacking batter Sophie Devine, who holds the record for fastest half-century in women’s T20Is, Australia’s fine all-rounder Ellyse Perry, wicket-keeper bat Alyssa Healy, Megan Schutt and Beth Mooney have confirmed their participation. Danni Wyatt and Daniel Hazell will add the English flavour,” he added.

Significant step towards future of the league

Diana Edulji, the member of Committee of Administrators (CoA), was also excited with the prospect of the Indian stars rubbing the shoulders along with some of the best overseas cricketers. She also believed that the game will be a significant step towards a possible Women’s league which will match the exuberance of IPL in future.

“We are excited to announce the first-of-its-kind exhibition match involving our women cricketers. BCCI has been pulling out all stops to promote and nurture women’s cricket and this is a small yet significant step towards a prospective league involving women’s stars in the future,” she said.

“The IPL is the biggest and most popular league in the world and it has been a long-time endeavour to have a women’s league that can match the exuberance of IPL. Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Veda Krishnamurthy among others rubbing shoulders with foreign stars will be a unique experience and something that we have not witnessed here in India,” the former Indian captain added.

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