Sourav Ganguly Hits Back At Accusations On BCCI Not Encouraging Women's Cricket Enough
Published - 10 May 2021, 09:30 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:45 AM
BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has struck back at the critics who indicted him of not organizing enough matches for the Indian women’s team. Indian women’s cricket team have had a significantly fewer number of games as compared to the men’s side since the COVID-19 outbreak. But Sourav Ganguly defended the belief, saying that the women’s outfit has a plethora of commitments lined up.
Cricketing activities resumed for the men’s team with a long tour of Australia, followed by England visiting the sub-continent to play all three formats. Following that, IPL 2021 started; however, the BCCI had to postpone it indefinitely due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Nevertheless, the board has copped criticism often for not prioritizing the women’s game as much as the male counterparts.
Sourav Ganguly underlined that other than the men’s IPL, we have had the women’s IPL, South Africa women visiting the country to play white-ball games. The former Indian captain underlined that the Indian women’s team will play a Test in England after eight years, followed by six ODIs and T20Is. Ganguly also highlighted that a visit from the West Indies is on the horizon and that they had to cancel the women’s IPL and reschedule it to September-October.
“What to do? We have been living with this deadly virus. Other than the men’s cricket, we had the women’s IPL. South Africa women played here. Our women are going to play Test cricket after eight years. They play a Test in Bristol and six ODIs and T20Is. Would you still accuse me of not supporting women’s cricket? West Indies will come and play in India. There is a lot of women’s cricket happening. We had to cancel the women’s IPL and schedule it for September-October,” Ganguly said as quoted by Times Now.
Now the women’s team is leaving for England on June 2: Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Ganguly further conceded that the women in blue have plenty of cricket in England, where they leave for on the 2nd of June. The 48-year old said that they have a series against England and Australia, followed by one against South Africa at home. He reminded that some of them would play in The Hundred and The Big Bash and travel to New Zealand for a bilateral series and World Cup in 2022.
“Now the women’s team is leaving for England on June 2. They have a lot of cricket there. They have got England, Australia. Then South Africa comes here. Some of them are playing 100-ball cricket in England. Some are playing the Big Bash in Australia. Then they go to New Zealand for a series, and then they play the World Cup,” he added.
