Star Australia wicketkeeper batter Alyssa Healy supports the BCCI’s plan to launch a women’s IPL next year and said India could become unbeatable in 10 years’ time thanks to the franchise-based T20 competition. Last week, the BCCI announced that it plans to launch the Women’s IPL by 2023, although the decision must be approved at its annual general meeting. The BCCI has proposed a six-team WIPL next year. “The announcement is pretty good. It’s exactly where we thought the women’s game was supposed to go. That was the next step,” Healy told ESPNcricinfo.
“We’ve had a really successful WBBL and the Kia Super League went really well, now in the Hundred – there are sort of thriving domestic leagues, so to see the IPL announcement in particular, to see the game in India is unbelievable .” Healy, 32, who reached a combative century against the West Indies on Wednesday to advance Australia to the ODI World Cup final, has long been a supporter of a WIPL.
She competed in the inaugural one-off exhibition game that was the precursor to the current Women’s T20 four-match challenge, a competition that will also be held this year.
“It (India) is such an untapped market, I think, in the women’s game.
“With so many people, they’re definitely going to be unbeatable in 10 years. They just really needed a helping hand in that home setting to show what these amazing women can do, so it’s really exciting.”
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Healy and other Australians have not competed in the T20 Challenge since the first edition in 2018. A last-minute stalemate between the BCCI and Cricket Australia led to the Australians missing out on the 2019 Indian tournament.
A schedule clash with the WBBL the following year resulted in the Australians, who made up the largest contingent of foreign players in the inaugural edition of the T20 Challenge, missing for the second time in a row.
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