More players needed to organise 7 team Women’s IPL, reveals Sourav Ganguly

With women’s cricket developing in leaps and bounds and the T20 World Cup at the horizon, call of organising a full-fledged seven-team women’s Indian Premier League (IPL) has grown significantly. Responding to the fans’ demand, Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly has stated that a tournament of such magnitude is possible in the next three to four years.

Ganguly stressed the availability of women’s players for such an event as he put forward his views on the matter.

"You need to understand the practicality of it. You need a lot more women players. I see that in four years' time, to get a seven-team IPL with the best women players [in participation]," he told India Today.

BCCI having upgraded the exhibition Women’s T20 Challenge 2018 which took place in Jaipur into a three-team event earlier this year, is planning to extend the event to a four-team format where each team will be playing each other twice. According to reports, the recent success of T20 series in Surat has the governing body thinking of hosting the event in different cities starting with Surat.

BCCI has recently reintroduced A tours for women, starting with India A touring Australia early next year, to bridge the gap between domestic and international cricket. Ganguly opined that such initiatives will go a long way in increasing participation in women’s cricket in the country.

"You have to let the state association teams get stronger, a lot of them are getting stronger. The push for women's cricket has been enormous over the last few years. Three years down the line, when you have 150-160 players, you can take the IPL forward. Right now, we have 50-60 players. With the push BCCI has for women's cricket, that will only increase," he added.