BCCI to conduct women's T20 event during IPL 2019

The BCCI has decided to conduct a three-team affair which will be spread over seven to 10 days

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has taken a major step in the participation of women in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL). It’s a fact that a fully fledged women’s IPL is a long process, the cricket board has decided to conduct a three-team affair which will be spread over seven to 10 days.

Last year, the BCCI organised one exhibition match with two teams—IPL Trailblazers and IPL Supernovas led by Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur respectively. This year, the parent body, currently run by the Supreme Court-appointed two-member CoA, wants to scale it up a bit in order to set the ball rolling for a women's IPL in a few years' time.

“Yes, the women's T20 matches will be held this year also. It will be a week to 10 days affair during the men's IPL. Once the BCCI gets clearance from the election commission and Home Ministry on dates, the itinerary will be fixed,” a senior board functionary told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

However, the official said it would be difficult to have more than three teams considering the “quality” of India's bench strength in women's cricket.

“At the max, we can have three teams with Harmanpreet, Smriti and maybe Mithali (for this year) leading the sides. They play against each other once and the top two play a tournament decider. It could be a seven-day affair," the official said.

“BCCI would decide the teams as there aren't any proper bidders who are interested in buying women's teams. Yes, we might rope in a few good sponsors. So at the moment, the BCCI will have to pay the players, including the match fees of foreign players, along with decent prize money,” he added.

Even if it's a three-team affair with 14 players aside, the BCCI will need at least 30 Indian women who could measure up for top-flight league cricket.

There is a school of thought that women's matches should be held at second-tier centres to get good crowds but during the IPL, to have another set of crew managing a women's event may turn out to be a massive logistical task.

So it will either be a 4 match before the men's game or a 7 pm match a day before the men's game at one of the IPL venues.