Launching Women’s IPL will improve standard of cricket in India: Rodrigues

Days after Smriti Mandhana called for the introduction of a six-team Women’s IPL, Northern Superchargers batter Jemimah Rodrigues has echoed the same sentiment, claiming that it is ‘high time’ that the BCCI launched a Women’s IPL. 

Rodrigues, who finished the Hundred’s group stages as the top run-getter, is of the opinion that launching a Women’s IPL will raise the bar for domestic cricket, which, she believes, will in turn improve the standard of cricket in India.

“Once they realise that OK, this is the standard, this is what I need to go out and do, they will want to work harder and work better. That’s very important in India because there is a lot of gap between the domestic and international side in India. In every street in India you see boys and girls playing cricket – there isn’t any shortage of future players! I think it’s high time we had an IPL,” Rodrigues told BBC.

In the form of The Hundred and Women’s Big Bash League, both England and Australia have prominent competitions promoting Women’s Cricket, but India is yet to launch a global Women’s T20 competition of similar magnitude, with the ‘Women’s T20 Challenge’, a week-long exhibition tournament, being the only competition of note. 

Rodrigues revealed that she’s longing for a Women's IPL to be launched,  and asserted that a global T20 competition could be a game-changer for domestic cricketers in India. 

“When we see the WBBL happening, then the KSL and now the Hundred, we are all like, when will we have our own IPL? It is going to make women’s cricket better. Imagine, the domestic girls here in England, the kind of experience they are having, sharing dressing rooms with international players. There is so much to learn,” Rodrigues said.