India aims for women’s IPL in three years

NEW DELHI: India aims to launch a women’s edition of the popular Indian Premier League cricket tournament in the next three years, a top official said Tuesday.

As part of the build-up, top international women players will take part in a Twenty20 exhibition game at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium later this month. "We are planning to get a women’s IPL in place in two to three years," Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) administrator Vinod Rai told AFP. No firm details of the new league have yet been revealed, but pressure for a women’s IPL has been building since India reached the final of the women’s World Cup in England last year.

Women cricketers from Australia, England and South Africa will play an Indian team under IPL rules in the May 22 game in Mumbai. "The match to be played between a BCCI XI and IPL XI will take place ahead of the first (men’s IPL) playoff at the Wankhede Stadium," Rai said.

The Mithali Raj-led India lost to England in the World Cup final last year, and received a rapturous welcome on their return. The ratings success of the World Cup prompted the International Cricket Council to promise a greater role for women’s cricket.