The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is set to organise a three-team women’s tournament during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 playoffs.
The women’s T20 exhibition games will include overseas players from as many as six countries, an improvement on last year’s one-off Women’s T20 Challenge, which saw representation only from Australia, England and New Zealand, apart from current India regulars.
Some of the top women’s international players likely to be invited for the three-team tournament include West Indies’ Deandra Dottin and T20 World Cup winning captain Stafanie Taylor, South Africa captain Dane van Niekerk and fast bowler Marizanne Kapp, and Sri Lanka’s Chamari Atapattu.
The overseas players – all prominent names in Australia’s Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) and the England’s Kia Super League (KSL) – are likely to be grouped with players who had participated last year, including Australia’s Meg Lanning, Ellyse Perry, Alyssa Healy and Megan Schutt, New Zealand’s Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine, and England’s Danielle Wyatt.
In order to avoid logistical hassles and get the nod of the broadcasters, the games will be played at the same venues as those of the playoffs at 4 pm before the men’s matches at 8 pm. Each women team will face each other once, and the top two will qualify for the final set to be played in Chennai on May 12.
