International Women's Day to see the launch of WCL

The male cricketers often bag most of the limelight in the cricket world. Talking specifically about India, the men’s team is the popular sports team in the country. On the contrary, the women’s team has largely failed to gather any such hype. In an attempt to bridge this gap, the first ever Women’s Cricket League (WCL) edition is all set to be launched on International Women’s day this year. The WCL is a new proposed T20 league which will played on the lines of the IPL, BBL etc.

Prior to this, Australia had launched their T20 league under the title Women’s Big Bash League last year. The tournament has been quite a hit in the first two editions. The founder of the WCL, Parul Jain, recently said that the league will give the young girls in the country an opportunity to rub shoulders with the best in the world and find a viable career option in cricket too. Also, this will further help in promoting women’s cricket in India.

As per the quotes in Mumbai Mirror, Parul quoted, “It’s important that young girls coming through can see cricket as a viable option to play at the highest level. The WCL #T20 League is expected to be of the same repute as the Indian Premier League (IPL) and women Big Bash League of Australia in support of women. This will lead to greater interest in women’s cricket in India, which has generally been given much less importance than the men’s sport.”

“With many sports getting their own professional leagues and ever-growing popularity in the country, it is time that the women cricket league is formed. It is no surprise that the fierce team of eves does not get as much attention and opportunities neither from the sports bodies or the sponsors in India as the men’s team,” Parul Jain added further.

Sunita Sharma, the first ever Indian woman cricket coach and Dronacharya Award winner, is also closely linked to the proposed league. She cited that it has been over 30 years since women cricket was introduced in India and yet the team has not managed to scale the heights that the male counterparts have achieved. She believes that this new league will be a boon for the Indian women’s cricket and the tournament will garner a lot of support and popularity in the years to come.

“It’s been more than three decades since the Indian women cricket team has been formed and has won various matches globally, still there is hardly any acknowledgement to women as per men cricketers in India,” she quoted.

“While men’s cricket underwent huge changes in the ’80s and ’90s, we were just languishing. However, I am enamoured that a start has been made and we hope to gain a lot from it. Lot of talent will now come to the forefront. We would like to see WCL getting as much attention in future,” she added further.