Smriti Mandhana Says Indian Cricket Needs Six-Team Women’s IPL

Smriti Mandhana, a 25-year-old batter, currently playing as a Star India opener, thinks that the country is ready to create a six-team for women’s IPL. She believes it will improve the strength of the country on the international level. Smriti Mandhana considers that participating in women’s IPL will create possibilities for women to get stronger to show a better performance. 

Smriti Mandhana said that with the help of the Twenty20 league men’s teams improved their skills and became very strong in cricket. “There is the same number of states for men and women. So, when they started the men’s IPL, there was the same number of states. But the quality went higher and higher as the years passed by,” Mandhana added.

“Five-six teams, we are good to go with. But eight teams, I am still not sure how it will look like. But I think we need to start with five or six teams so that we can get to eight teams very soon. I think till we don’t start, we are not giving exposure to our girls to turn their cricket into a different level,” she noted.

“I think till we don’t start, we are not giving exposure to our girls to turn their cricket into a different level,” Mandhana said. She remembered how the women’s Big Bash League helped the Australian team to improve their skills. Smriti Mandhana played in Big Bash four years ago. She said that the quality has changed since then and now there are many strong cricket players ready to play on the international level at any time. She shared her desire for something like this in India to happen and she considers IPL could be that chance for changes. Currently, the BCCI hosts a Women’s T20 Challenge which features three teams – Trailblazers, Supernovas, and Velocity.