Is women’s IPL the need of the hour?

For over a year now, there have been several calls for an IPL-like tournament for women cricketers in India; more so after the India Eves’ revolutionary campaign in the recently concluded Women’s World Cup.

How can the T20 tournament help? It can expand the horizon of women’s cricket and make it more popular. How else? It can perhaps bring more aggression to their game, along with more money and fame - something that they deserve. But aren’t all the aforementioned questions answered already? Indian women’s cricket at the international level has blossomed. They were welcomed back home with nationwide adulation, felicitations and prize money. And as far as aggression is concerned, whoever saw Harmanpreet Kaur’s defiant 171 will beg to differ.

The need of the hour is to secure the future of Indian women’s cricket team, because when the current crop of players put curtains on their career, a back-up of their calibre will be needed. And while they still play, the Indian board needs to work on the future bench strength of the team. That is the immediate need. Before planning an IPL, there are various other boxes that need to be ticked off.

Women’s cricket needs to grow at the grassroots level. In a country where a 20-year-old Smriti Mandhana tames experienced England bowlers, there cannot be dearth of young talent, but it needs to be ensured that the talent is nurtured and it keeps emerging.

Employment needs to be ensured for budding cricketers so that they do not hesitate to take up the sport. They need financial security to not twitch for a source of income during injury layoffs. Before increasing the pay for Ranji Trophy cricketers, as is being planned by the BCCI, they can instead plan a pay hike for the domestic women cricketers who do not earn even half of what their male counterparts do per match. While passion for cricket is one thing, money is a need for one and all.

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Moreover, does Indian women’s cricket have sufficient world-class players to start an IPL? Nobody would take interest in one-sided matches, which are a possibility when an experienced international player competes against a largely inexperienced domestic bowler. The domestic women cricketers haven’t enjoyed as many competitive opportunities as their male counterparts.

You can expect Basil Thampi to send back Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni to the dugout. You can also expect Rahul Tripathi to outshine more experienced players in his team. Because they have played competitive cricket at various levels – the Ranji Trophy and the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy among many others.

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As for the girls, they haven’t enjoyed enough opportunities at the domestic level. And thus, their knives remain unsharpened for a tournament like the IPL. Once the board can underpin state-level cricket for all ages, everything else will follow on its own. Years of footing and spadework needs to be done for a women’s IPL to materialize.