Shikha Pandey Weighs In On The Prospects Of Women's IPL Tournament

Indian women’s cricketer Shikha Pandey has shed light on the timeline on the possibility of a women’s IPL taking place. The women’s IPL tournament has been long under discussion in the BCCI circles; however, is yet to take shape and put into execution. Shikha Pandey, who is one of the most reputed female cricketers today, has given a positive outlook on the same.

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The Indian women’s team’s exemplary showing in the 2020 ICC Women’s World Cup provoked more experts to call for women’s IPL to be introduced. Cricketers like Poonam Yadav, Shafali Verma, Harmanpreet Kaur, and Shikha Pandey herself took the tournament by storm and the Indian team fell only one step short of lifting the title.

Shikha Pandey stated confidently that in one or two years, we would witness a women’s IPL tournament. The fast bowler mentioned to play alongside world-class international cricketers is an enriching experience since we get to learn a lot from them. From viewers’ standpoint, aspiring female cricketers would also be able to watch matches on television unlike her own generation.

“Pretty sure that we would see it happening in a year or two. As a cricketer, if you ask me, having the high-intensity games and being able to play them would be a big plus for us, at the international level, you get to play high-intensity games, to have world-class cricketers playing alongside you, you get to learn so much from them in terms of their experience.

With IPL matches being happening and them being televised, a lot of young girls would be able to watch it on television, it would be a huge thing as being a 90s kid I did not get the chance to watch televised women’s matches much,” the Andhra Pradesh-born bowler stated as quoted by Hindustan Times.

“We have got a huge talent pool within our domestic cricket” : Shikha Pandey

The 31-year old went on to say that women’s IPL cricket would inspire more and more females to take up cricket and proud of their talent pool in the domestic circuit. She recalled playing in the women’s T20 challenge in 2018 and 2019 wherein they got an excellent reception from the crowd with packed stands in the stadiums.

“It would inspire the younger lot to take up cricket. We have got a huge talent pool within our domestic cricket, I would say Women’s IPL should happen and I am very sure in another year or two, we will see a very well organised Women’s IPL. We have played Women’s T20 Challenge in 2018 and 2019, the kind of reception we got from the people that came to watch those matches was amazing, the stadium was jampacked, any international series we play in India, we have always received great support from the crowd,” the all-rounder added further.

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