Mumbai, July 26:
It wasn’t much of a possibility a couple of years back but India captain Mithali Raj today said a women’s Indian Premier League is closer to reality after her team’s brilliant World Cup campaign.
Asked if she expects a women’s IPL soon, Mithali said:”If you had asked me this question, a couple of years back, probably I would not (support the idea to have women’s IPL), but (may be) now since after going to the World Cup and the way they have responded and improved the standard of women’s cricket, taking it to different level.”
For a women’s IPL, the general standard of the game needs to be good and Mithali feels that it has happened as the statistics of this World Cup suggests.
“Scoring more than 300 plus, every team has got a centurion and a five wicket haul bowler, so it is probably because of the leagues in Australia and England and may be a couple of players have improved their standard and they have performed very well for the country,” she said.
Mithali feels that an IPL will also help the domestic players improve their standard.
“We now have a base, it will help even the domestic players in terms of exposure, but again it is up to the BCCI to organize the league. As a player, I feel now the domestic players are exposed to good cricketing environment and interact with foreign players, they will benefit,” Mithali stated.
She is proud that her team has now got global acceptance.
“This was a moment when a team sport apart from men’s cricket garnered so much attention because it’s individual sport always gets that mileage.
“In team games, irrespective of having 2-3 good players, if the team does not do well, you do not get that attention, but it feels nice because we play cricket and it is like a religion in India,” she said when asked if it’s a watershed moment in women’s game.
But the bunch of 15 women fully deserves it, feels their captain.
“They always deserved it. Now because of broadcasting and televising of the game, it is more, coming under BCCI has made a difference. I always believed if more matches are televised, we can attract more people,” said Raj, who became the leading run-scorer in women’s One-day Internationals, during the event.(PTI)
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