Mithali Raj calls for women's IPL to begin in 2021

On the back of a landmark T20 World Cup in Australia, which culminated in a crowd of 86,174 spectators at the MCG as India lost out to the host nation, the ODI captain is convinced that the time is right to put together a women’s competition

India ODI captain Mithali Raj has called for a women’s IPL to begin in 2021, even if it is on a smaller scale to the men’s competition.

On the back of a landmark T20 World Cup in Australia, which culminated in a crowd of 86,174 spectators at the MCG as India lost out to the host nation, Raj is convinced that the time is right to put together a women’s competition.

The Women’s T20 Challenge has been in existence since 2018 as a round-robin exhibition tournament played out alongside the IPL, featuring Indian players and a handful of elite cricketers from around the world.

Initially, it was just a single one-off game between IPL Trailblazers and IPL Supernovas, with Alyssa Healy, Ellyse Perry, Danni Wyatt and Suzie Bates all taking part in the inaugural match. In 2019, the event added a third team and comprised of four fixtures.

This year’s edition – should it go ahead, with the Indian Premier League yet to make a final decision on the fate of the competition amid the coronavirus pandemic – features a fourth team and seven games.

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“I personally feel they should start a women's IPL by next year,” she told ESPNCricinfo, “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.

“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 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].

“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.”

Australia and England have set the bar in the women’s game with the Women’s Big Bash and the now-defunct Kia Super League. The WBBL ran its first standalone edition in 2019, while the KSL is due to be replaced with The Hundred in the UK.

The emergence in recent months of Shafali Verma, the 16-year-old opening batsman, has highlighted the growth potential of the women’s game in India, emphasising the need for a quality tournament.