Danielle Wyatt thanks the BCCI and the IPL for the Women’s T20 challenge

Before the start of the thrilling qualifier between the Chennai Super Kings and the Sunrisers Hyderabad, a historic moment unfolded at the Wankhede. It was the first time when an IPL-style T20 match for women was played in India. The pressure on the BCCI to start a tournament for Women has been ever mounting especially after the national team has improved drastically over the years.

Smriti Mandhana’s Trailblazers took on Harmanpreet Kaur’s Supernovas in the landmark encounter before the start of IPL playoffs. The Trailblazers had the likes of Alyssa Healy, Jhulan Goswami and Jemimah Rodrigues while the Supernovas were bolstered by Ellyse Perry, Mithali Raj and Meg Lanning. Though it was a low scoring game, the match went down to the wire with the Supernovas edging by three wickets. Danielle Wyatt, English opener took to Twitter to appreciate the initiative taken by the BCCI.

The right time

She tweeted: “Supernovas. What a great day. Thankyou @bcci & @IPL .. hopefully, this is just the start..” The female cricketers will be hoping that this T20 match was just a teaser of what is going to come next. An IPL style tournament for Women will go a long way in unearthing raw talent in the nation.

Suzie Bates was the top scorer for Trailblazers with 32 runs while Jemimah Rodrigues scored a quickfire 25. In reply, Mithali Raj and Danielle Wyatt set up the chase nicely with a solid opening partnership. Wyatt scored 24 while Raj scored 22 runs. Bates was awarded the Woman of the match for her all-round contribution. She picked up 2 wickets and scored 32 runs but ended up on the losing side.

It is the right time for the introduction of a franchise-based tournament for women. Though the tournament cannot be as big as the IPL, a 4-5 team tournament will go a long way in the development of Women’s cricket in India.

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