Reports | Cancellation of 2021 Women's T20 Challenge inevitable
The Women's T20 challenge is all set to be postponed
|@ IPL T20
The BCCI have reportedly acknowledged that, owing to the second Covid-19 wave in India, it would be impossible to host the Women's T20 Challenge which, as things stand, is all set to be cancelled. Earlier, there were talks about the BCCI potentially expanding the number of sides in the competition.
The Indian Women Cricketers are set to receive yet another telling blow as reports have emerged that the 2021 edition of the Women's T20 Challenge is set to be cancelled owing to the logistical challenges posed by the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in India. The Womenâs T20 challenge, a three-team tournament featuring the best cricketers across the world, is usually played during the IPL playoffs, but the competition is all set to be shelled this year due to the challenges posed by the second wave of the pandemic.
Cricket.com has reported that the BCCI have internally acknowledged that it would be next to impossible to host the 2021 edition of the competition, particularly with countries starting to impose travel bans. The Womenâs T20 challenge, over the years, has overseen cricketers from England, Australia, South Africa and West Indies, among other countries, partake in the competition, but logistical challenges posed by the second wave has reportedly forced the BCCIâs hand in doing away with the competition for 2021.
The situation is believed to have left several players distraught, and one senior cricketer revealed that the players were left disappointed by the fact that there has, to date, been no communication from the Indian board.
âThis is devastating news for us. We genuinely thought this edition will give us some very important game time before we take on the English side. All come crashing down now. Calls have gone unanswered at the moment. That was the least we expected,â cricket.com quoted a senior Indian cricketer as saying.
Earlier, there were talks of the three-team tournament potentially getting expanded to four, though eventually nothing materialized. The 2020 edition of the competition, the entirety of which was played in Sharjah, was won by the Smriti Mandhana-led Trailblazers.Â
