The Women’s IPL, if it starts next year, will be huge for us: Sophie Ecclestone

Sophie Ecclestone is already marching towards greatness at the age of 23 as she has bagged 68 wickets in 50 T20 Internationals and 76 wickets in 47 One Day Internationals. She has even played four Test matches where she has picked up 15 wickets. In the recent conversation,  she shared her ambition of finishing her career as an all-time great in women’s cricket history.

She is now sitting at the top of the chart in both Women’s T20Is and ODIs ICC Rankings. The 23-year-old England left-arm spinner was the highest wicket-taker in the last ICC Women’s World Cup with 21 wickets in nine matches only. She also became the youngest ever to bag 50 T20I wickets at the tender age of 20 years and 300 days. Keeping up her wicket-taking abilities and age in mind, she is tipped to break the record of highest wicket-taker in the history of women’s cricket. Currently, this record is held by Team India’s Jhulam Goswami.

Sophie is now in India as she is participating in the fourth edition of the Women’s T20 Challenge for the Supernovas in Pune. Speaking to Sportskeeda, she was asked about how long she has been following IPL. She said: “I’ve not really followed the IPL as the match timings clashed with my school hours. Being here in India, I now follow it a lot more, watching the matches on TV.” 

Sophie Ecclestone talks about her inclination toward the Rajasthan franchise due to the jersey colour

Sophie shared her view regarding the importance of a full-fledged Women’s IPL. She added: “I think it would be massive to have franchise cricket for women in India. The Women’s IPL, if it starts next year, will be huge for us. The Hundred in England has been massive for women’s cricket. It has got a lot of success.”

She also shared which franchise she can represent in IPL. “Not really. My favourite colour is pink and Rajasthan Royals wear pink, so that might be an option (laughs)! Let’s see how things pan out,” Ecclestone concluded.

Apart from all these, she spoke about her ultimate dream while adding, “When I finish my career, I want to be an all-time great and the leading wicket-taker for England. Above all, I want to win many trophies for my country.”