Women's IPL 2023: The wait is about to end. India is set to witness its women cricketers rubbing shoulders with the foreign stars in its own T20 league. The Women's IPL is set to be played for the first time in 2023 and the women's stars are excited about the cash-rich tournament. India's captain Harmanpreet Kaur, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana and batter Jemimah Rodrigues have stated that the tournament will bring major changes to Indian cricket.
Speaking on Star Sports show 'Follow the Blues', Harmanpreet Kaur said that Women's IPL will bridge the gap between international and domestic cricket and the players' performance will improve. "The IPL will be a great platform for players that are really good, but you know for them, international cricket is still something that they cannot change their approach and mindset overnight. But in the IPL, when they get a chance to play against overseas players, it will give them a platform, they can play well, they can understand what is international cricket," Kaur said.
She added, "So, when they are playing for the Indian team, they will not face any extra pressure, because right now, the players that are selected from the domestic teams, sometimes I can see that they are blank, they are not able to understand how to change their game plan. To cut that gap, the tournament will play a major role. So, in the coming years, with the girls who play in the IPL, we will definitely see some major changes in their performances."
Australia and England are already hosting domestic leagues. The Australian players get a chance to play in the WBBL, while the England players take part in The Hundred. India's vice-captain Mandhana compared women's IPL with The Hundred and the WBBL. "All of the women's cricket, I won't say the Indian team or the domestic set-up. We keep talking about how it will increase the bench strength. But actually, the fact is that it's going to help the domestic girls massively because that sort of experience in playing in leagues like this will get a lot of things sorted for women's cricket," Mandhana said.
She added, "Grassroot wise and we have seen how the Big Bash and The Hundred have helped Australia and England respectively in their domestic set-up as well as other things. So, I'm actually really happy, the Indian team will benefit a lot from the women's IPL, but it's also going to benefit a lot of domestic girls which I'm looking forward to."
Jemimah Rodrigues also stated that Women's IPL will help Indian cricket go to the next level. "The women's IPL is going to change a lot of things for women's cricket in India. I think this is like the best platform for us now that we as an Indian team have been doing so well in all the major events like the World Cup, and the Commonwealth. This is just the right time for it to happen and I'm sure that we are going to get so much more talent that's going to come out from here. I am very sure that women's cricket in India is all set to go to the next level after the women's IPL," Rodrigues said.
