BCCI should start women’s IPL by next year, can’t wait forever: Mithali Raj

Mithali Raj, the India women’s legend, feels that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should make a swift decision regarding the women’s Indian Premier League (IPL). The 37-year-old from Jodhpur reckons that the world’s richest cricket board can’t afford to ‘wait forever’ and need to get going with the tournament even if it’s on a slightly smaller scale.

In 2018, there was a women’s exhibition match between the Trailblazers and Supernovas, led by Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana. Then in 2019, the BCCI went a step ahead and organised a tri-series, adding Velocity along with the two other teams. Raj understands that there’s lack of depth in women’s domestic tournaments, but she wants the BCCI to at least start the procedures.

I agree we don’t have the depth in the domestic pool: Mithali Raj  

“I personally feel they should start a women’s IPL by next year, even if it’s on a slightly smaller scale and with some changes in rules, such as, say, have five to six foreign players in the first edition instead of four as is the case with the men’s IPL,” Raj was quoted as saying in ESPNcricinfo.

“I agree we don’t have the depth in the domestic pool yet, but the key is to get the existing franchises to form teams, even if (only) five or six of them are keen to begin the process because in any case, the BCCI was going to have four teams,” she stated.

“You cannot wait forever; you have to begin at some point, and gradually, year by year, you can keep evolving the league and then bring it down to four foreign players,” Mithali added.

The BCCI earlier had scheduled a four-team contest this year compared to three last year. The series was to have seven matches and was set to be played alongside the men’s IPL playoffs. However, that has now been put to hold due to the massive coronavirus outbreak that has rocked the world.

Back in October, Sourav Ganguly, the BCCI president, said that the women’s IPL was at least four years away. Previously, even Sunil Gavaskar, the former Indian batsman, said that it made sense to start the women’s IPL that could help India win global titles.