Mithali Raj says, hope to have a full-fledged IPL for women cricketers in the next two years

Mithali Raj says, hope to have a full-fledged IPL for women cricketers in the next two years
Women's T20 Challenge
Women’s T20 Challenge logo

The Women’s T20 Challenge is set to begin from today in UAE. The first match will be between the defending champions, Supernovas, led by Harmanpreet Kaur and Velocity, led by Mithali Raj. It will be a repeat of last year’s final.

India’s ODI captain and the skipper of Velocity, Mithali Raj is hopeful of the continuation of the Womens T20 Challenge for two years and paves way for a full-fledged IPL for women cricketers.

“Well I think it is important as if there is a continuation of this tournament, then I guess in another 2 years time we can have a full-fledged IPL for women. It is important that there is a continuation from last year to this year and then next year,” she said.

She also highlighted that this tournament is a platform that young girls need and and will help improve India’s domestic structure.

“So that it becomes a yearly tournament and every year we have this platform for the young girls and other domestic players to interact with each other and other overseas players. It sort of creates a good vibe and also improves the standard of our domestic structure,” she added.

Mithali Raj says, that playing in these conditions is ‘something new for us’

Mithali Raj

The legend also mentioned that this time, playing in the tournament would be a different kind of a challenge. Players are coming after an extended break from due to the COVID-19 restrictions.

“Honestly from the players point of view, we usually have the luxury of coming from a season or having a few matches under our belt,” she said.

She also added that ‘as players this is soemthing new for us‘. “But this is straight away into the tournament, so even as players this is something new for us, but even I am curious to see how we as players have adapted to the new norm of quarantine and coming into the bio-bubble.” she said.

But there is a lot to look forward to, in this tournament for her. She is excited to play in the iconic stadium of Sharjah in the UAE. She associates the stadium to the stunning innings of Sachin Tendulkar in 1998.

“Yes Sharjah is a small stadium, but for me it is the iconic stadium where I have heard a lot about Sachin’s innings at Sharjah, so I am just fortunate to be able to play in the stadium where he scored those runs,” she said.

Also Read: BCCI announces schedule for Women’s T20 Challenge, Sharjah to host all the matches