Mithali Raj
Mithali Raj with the World Cup (Credits: Twitter)

Indian Women’s ODI team skipper Mithali Raj has urged the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to commence hosting the Women’s Indian Premier League (IPL) in the nation from 2021 onwards.

Lately, there has been a lot of debate surrounding the fate of Women’s IPL. Indian Women’s team head coach WV Raman recently said that India doesn’t have as many talented players required to host a full-fledged IPL.

He instead backed the Women’s T20 Challenge that has been played in the past, with two, three teams, playing each other in exhibition matches.

Raj though, said that the BCCI should not “wait forever” to begin proceeding. However, she did add that the Women’s IPL could be held on a “smaller scale.”

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Mithali Raj urges the BCCI to host Women’s IPL from 2021:

Mithali Raj, BCCI, Women's IPL, India, Women's T20 Challenge
Skippers of last year’s Women’s T20 Challenge, Mithali Raj, Smriti Mandhana, and Harmanpreet Kaur. (Image Credits: Twitter)

The 37-year-old’s latest comments come after the Indian women’s team finished runners-up at the recently concluded ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.

“I personally feel they should start a women’s IPL by next year, even if it’s on a slightly smaller scale and with some changes in rules, such as, say, have five to six foreign players in the first edition instead of four as is the case with the men’s IPL,” Mithali Raj told ESPNcricinfo.

Here, it must be noted that Australia has successfully hosted five editions of Women’s Big Bash League. England has had four editions of their own T20 league in the past.

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Mithali Raj suggests a Women’s IPL of smaller scale:

Mithali Raj, BCCI, Women's IPL, India, Women's T20 Challenge
Mithali Raj (Credits – BCCI)

The right-handed batswoman mirrored head coach Raman’s words, but she did add that maybe the BCCI could have an IPL, with five or six teams.

Mithali said, “I agree we don’t have the depth in the domestic pool yet, but the key is to get the existing franchises to form teams, even if [only] five or six of them are keen to begin the process because in any case, the BCCI was going to have four teams [in the Women’s T20 Challenge].”

She continued, “You cannot wait forever; you have to begin at some point, and gradually, year by year, you can keep evolving the league and then bring it down to four foreign players.”

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