COVID-19 may have pushed women’s cricket two years back, asserts Mithali Raj
Mithali Raj believes that the COVID-19 pandemic, that put cricket on hold earlier this year, may have caused a two-year setback on women’s cricket. The India women's ODI captain has, however, added that she had talks with the BCCI to draw up a firm calendar to make up for the time lost.
Amongst all the victims of the COVID-19 pandemic was the Indian women’s cricket team, who were pushing for a full-fledged Indian Premier League, making them fall behind. According to Indian skipper Mithali Raj, the COVID-19 outbreak forced such a break that may have pushed back the growth of women's cricket by at least two years.
She added that a full-fledged women's IPL is still at least three years away although a fourth team can be added for the Challenger series. Speaking at the 'Re-Setting the Sports Ecosystem', she revealed that she had talks with the BCCI top-brass for the board to draw out a dedicated calendar for the women's national team.
"Unfortunately, women's cricket may have been set back by a couple of years by this pandemic as some of the momentum that had been built between India's success in World Cup 2017 and World T20 2020 has been lost," the 37-year-old Raj said during a webinar, reported Sportstar.
"However, we have had discussions with BCCI to draw up a firm calendar for the Indian women's team so that fans can regularly cheer for the team.The plans have obviously been disrupted but we believe we can rebuild quickly. I think a full-fledged Women's IPL is still 2-3 years away but we would certainly look to have a fourth team in the Women's Challenge that is played concurrently with the IPL.”
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