'Women's IPL is very much on', confirms BCCI president Sourav Ganguly

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Sunday said the Women’s IPL or the Challenger series, as it is better known, is “very much on”, ending speculation about the parent body not having a plan for Harmanpreet Kaur and her team. The men’s IPL will be held between September 19 and November 8 or 10 (final date yet to be locked in) in the UAE due to the surge in COVID-19 cases in India. The women’s IPL will also be fit in to the schedule, according to the BCCI chief. “I can confirm to you that the women’s IPL is very much on and we do have a plan in place for the national team also,” Ganguly told PTI ahead of the IPL Governing Council meeting later on Sunday. [caption id=“attachment_8665381” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Mithali Raj (L), Smriti Mandhana (C) and Harmanpreet Kaur captained their teams teams in Women’s IPL T20 2019. Image courtesy: Twitter @IPL[/caption] The BCCI president, who is awaiting a Supreme Court verdict on waiver of the cooling off period to continue in the position, did not divulge details but another senior official privy to the development said that women’s Challenger will be held during the last phase of IPL like last year. “The women’s Challenger series is likely to be held between November 1-10 and there could be a camp before that,” the source said. The former India captain also said that the centrally contracted women players will have a camp which has been delayed due to the prevailing situation in the country. “We couldn’t have exposed any of our cricketers — be it male or female to health risk. It would have been dangerous,” Ganguly said. “The NCA also remained shut because of COVID-19. But we have a plan in place and we will have a camp for women, I can tell you that,” he added. The BCCI’s cricket operations team is chalking up a schedule where Indian women are likely to have two full fledged white-ball series against South Africa and the West Indies before playing the ODI World Cup in New Zealand.