BCCI set to run more exhibition fixtures of Women's T20 challenge during IPL 2019

The BCCI is going to carry on with the plan of organising more T20 exhibition matches including top Indian and international women cricketers during the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Last year , the BCCI had conducted a one-off Women’s T20 challenge game at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. In a bid to have a full-fledged tournament akin to the men’s tournament, the board has decided to run multiple games this time around, according to a report in ESPNCricinfo

As per a report, the planning to conduct few more fixtures has been underway for a few months now. However, the dearth of a domestic pool of players is a big obstacle for an eight or six-team competition like the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) in Australia or the six-team Kia Super League in the UK. Even India’s ODI captain Mithali Raj had earlier shared the same thought.

Even this year only two teams are likely to feature in a series of matches, like the IPL Trailblazers led by Smriti Mandhana and IPL Supernovas captained by Harmanpreet Kaur in 2018.

The report also states that the Committee of Administrators (CoA) and BCCI have given a green light to the idea, the delay over the final approval over the women’s games is due to the waiting game over the IPL schedule. The schedule is yet to be released and is subject to approval by the Election Commission of India with the General Elections to be conducted at the same time. Once the schedule is finalised, the organisers can go ahead on deciding on the number of women’s games and the players required.

Last year the two teams had a mix of well-known Indian and international cricketers. Harmanpreet’s Supernovas clinched the last-ball thriller by three wickets, with White Ferns’ opener Suzie Bates winning the Player-of-the-Match award, despite ending up on the losing side. The match also featured other renowned overseas players including Australia’s Meg Lanning, Ellyse Perry and Alyssa Healy, England’s Danielle Wyatt and Danielle Hazell, and New Zealand’s Sophie Devine and Lea Tahuhu.