“More graduating to the national side” – Mohammad Azharuddin hails BCCI for Women’s IPL

Former Indian skipper Mohammed Azharuddin has hailed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for approving the inaugural edition of the Women’s IPL.

The veteran feels that the tournament will promote women cricketers in the country. He said that Women in Blue would benefit from the experience of playing alongside international players worldwide.

Speaking to mid-day, the former Indian cricketer said:

“It was imperative. It is important to promote the women [cricketers] who have done well over a period of time. The performance [of the Indian women's team] has been good.

"With the women’s IPL, we’ll get more players from abroad and more graduating to the national side.”

The general body at BCCI's Annual General Meeting (AGM) has given a formal go-ahead for the much-awaited tournament, starting next year. In a press release after BCCI’s AGM on Tuesday, October 18, it stated:

“The General Body approved to conduct the Women’s Indian Premier League.”

Incidentally, the Women in Blue's have performed consistently over the last few years. Harmanpreet Kaur and Co. recently won silver at the Commonwealth Games, defeated England 3-0 in ODIs away from home and won the Women’s Asia Cup for the seventh time.

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Women’s IPL set to start as a five-team tournament

The Women’s IPL is likely to start as a five-team tournament in March after the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023.

As per ESPNCricinfo, the BCCI’s proposal plan consists of 22 matches. A team can sign 18 players, including six overseas players. Only five foreign players will be allowed to feature in the playing XI, including four players from the full-member nations and one from the associate team.

In a statement, the BCCI's newly appointed vice-president Rajeev Shukla gave the latest updates on the development.

“We have in principle decided to start women’s IPL. IPL governing council was asked to finalize the details for the same. Franchise auction and all other things will be decided in some time,” he said as quoted by AN

In 2018, BCCI launched the Women’s T20 challenge, initially played as a one-off match but it was later extended to three teams over the years.

Women’s IPL is expected to gain more popularity than the women's edition of the BBL, The Hundred and CPL.