BCCI goes against Mithali Raj's 'this is right time to bring IPL'; calls it a distant dream

PTI

New Delhi: India may not have lifted the trophy at Lord's when they went down by mere nine runs to now-four-time champion England, but they did win a million hearts and raised hopes of many aspiring sportswomen. Thus the skipper Mithali Raj reckoned that it was the right time to bring about women's IPL into India. However, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) differs in notion.

It was only on Monday that Mithali, speaking to ESPNcricinfo, talked about the importance of a women's league and how the Big Bash League has been helpful for players like Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana.

"The WBBL has given exposure to the two girls who have played (Smriti Mandhana and Kaur). If more girls participate in such leagues, it will give them experience and help them to improve their own game," she said.

"If you ask me they should have IPL because now is the right time to create that base. Women's cricket is everywhere and they have put up a much better standard than the last World Cup," she added.

However, BCCI differing on the notion has cited quite a few reasons as to why it is not feasible at the moment.

“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, "said a BCCI official to CricketNext.

“There have been a few proposals in the past as well. Current treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry had in fact presented a similar model some time back and it is not like that the BCCI isn’t looking at the possibility. But realistically, it is important to work on the grassroots level and improve the supply line of women cricketers to back the good work done by the likes of Mithali, Jhulan Goswami, Harmanpreet Kaur among others,” he clarified.

“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 another official.

Regardless of all, they do feel that it is the right time to promote the sport among girls, just that the infrastructure needs to be upgraded.

The BCCI is not just looking to felicitate the women for the brilliant show in the showpiece event, but also financial backing will be given to ensure that women’s cricket doesn’t hold back. We already have a domestic system in place where we have the age-group tournaments as well as the 3-day games. The infrastructure and facilities need to be further upgraded,” he said.