BCCI interested in supporting women's cricket, but calls idea of separate IPL 'far-fetched'

After India’s historic performance at the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017, there have been many calls for taking the women’s game in the country to the next level, with Mithali Raj stating  that the time is right to start a women’s IPL. While BCCI seems to be interested in investing in women’s cricket, the board doesn’t think that a T20 league for women, on the lines of WBBL, is feasible currently. [caption id=“attachment_3803017” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Indian women’s cricketers might have to wait a bit longer for a domestic T20 competition. Reuters[/caption] According to a report by News18,  BCCI, the richest board in the world, is looking at ways to improve infrastructure and facilities for women’s cricket, but a league is not something that it is considering right now. The board is using the current ruckus with CoA (Committee of Administrators) taking over its administration as an excuse for being unable to stage such a league. An unnamed official quoted in the report says, “There is no denying the fact that the women cricketers have made us proud. They deserve all the accolades and definitely this is the time to promote the game in the country and help create a solid foundation for the women’s game to go from strength to strength. But to think of a women’s IPL would be a little far-fetched as it is not financially feasible at present. Also, the current unrest within the BCCI as the board is trying its best to implement the proposals of the Lodha panel at the earliest means that the women’s IPL needs to wait at present.” The report further adds that this isn’t the first time that such a proposal has come to BCCI. However, the board is of the view that to maintain a supply chain for the national squad more work needs to be done at the ground level, instead of developing an IPL clone. According to the report, the example of Champions League T20, where the league had to be abandoned because of low turnout for the matches, serves as an important lesson for the board to this day. “Women’s cricket has got good coverage this time round. But there needs to be more international and domestic games that need to be telecast before going for something revolutionary like having a T20 league. One needs to realise that the CLT20 couldn’t be sustained after some time as there weren’t enough viewers keen to watch the top T20 domestic teams from across the globe play each other. A lot of planning needs to go into the whole process,” said an official in the report. Instead of just felicitating the women’s cricket team for their performance in the World Cup, BCCI is also looking to focus more on upgrading the infrastructure and improving the facilities for the women’s cricket, the report says. So, in all likelihood, it seems the women’s team will have to wait a bit longer for an IPL to come their way.