Challenger Series or commonly known as Women’s IPL is very much on the cards, stated BCCI(Board of Cricket Control India) president Sourav Ganguly. The statement put the speculations to bed on the parent body not having a plan for the Women’s team of India.
"I can confirm to you that the women's IPL is very much on and we do have a plan in place for the national team also," Ganguly told PTI (news agency) ahead of the IPL Governing Council meeting later on Sunday.
As per reports, The men's IPL is scheduled to be held between September 19 and November 8 in United Arab Emirates (UAE) amid the hike in cases in India. The IPL governing body is still awaiting a reply from the Indian government to conduct the IPL outside India. The BCCI is planning to fit in the Women’s IPL into this schedule.
It is to be noted that the BCCI president Sourav Ganguly is awaiting a Supreme Court on waiver of the cooling off period to continue in the position. It was reported by a BCCI chief that the Women’s IPL could be held between November 1-10 also with camp could be set up before that for the players to train themselves.
"The women's Challenger series is likely to be held between November 1-10 and there could be a camp before that," the source said.
The former Indian Captain also expressed his thoughts on the current situation of the pandemic and how the cricketers can not be exposed to the risk and proper precautions should be taken.
"We couldn't have exposed any of our cricketers — be it male or female to health risk. It would have been dangerous.The NCA also remained shut because of COVID-19. But we have a plan in place and we will have a camp for women, I can tell you that," Ganguly added.
The Women's IPL 2019 was won by IPL supernovas which was led by Harmanpreet kaur. Jemimah Rodriguez of IPL Supernovas was the top run-getter of the series and ended up bagging the player of the series award. Amelia Kerr of IPL Velocity was the top wicket-taker with 6 wickets.
The BCCI is in the process of scheduling two ODI series for the Indian Women. The teams they are likely to play are South Africa and West indies. Team India Women are scheduled to play the ODI World Cup in New Zealand from February 6 to March 7 of 2021.
Cover Credits: SportsZone
