‘Itna Jhoot?’ Jay Shah’s Promise Of Women’s IPL Called Out By Indian Cricket Fans As ‘Lies’

The secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Jay Shah has made promises about the possibility of an IPL-like league for women cricketers in India while speaking to Hindustan Times.

Based on the fact that big cricketers like Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur have played in franchise cricket leagues overseas, and have been extremely vocal about having a similar tournament at home, Shah suggests that the Indian cricket board is working night and day to make the league happen. 

BCCI Secretary Jay Shah (in Hindustan Times) said “We are working towards an IPL model for Women’s as well for the future”.

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) December 29, 2021

However, he also suggests that making something like this come true needs a lot of factors to be looked into. For instance, the availability of international players to make their way to India for at least a month and the ICC schedule for bilateral series, to name a few.

This isn’t the first time that a senior BCCI official has spoken about the chances of having a women’s cricket league in the country and the fact that the organisation does not even have a timeline set in place for something so important led to the fans of Indian cricket calling BS on Shah’s words.

Jay Shah about Women’s IPL: pic.twitter.com/NnVD9bxmtr

— Rajneesh (@Rajneesh_16) December 29, 2021

When will this future come?

— Vk45 (@sportslovervk45) December 29, 2021

Jab se Main paida hua hu yahi sunn Raha hu,Kuch din baad Muje bhi bache ho jayenge lekin women’s IPL ka kuch aata pata nahi hai

— Akash (@im_akash196) December 29, 2021

Here future means 10-15 years.
Australia s not richest cricket board but it started its WBBL. But BCCI s richest board but not started WIPL.

— Abhishek Singh (@AbhiSingh111195) December 29, 2021

Indefinite future*

— Oné Guñ (@Best_captain_) December 29, 2021

Back in 2006 when the BCCI had decided to take direct control over women’s cricket in India, it was believed that the situation of domestic cricket among women would improve significantly. However in the last decade and a half, not a lot of anecdotal evidence could be found in support of this argument.

Despite a boost in annual pay for the top-tier cricketers back in 2018, female athletes don’t have many avenues to play competitive cricket at the school, university or club level. There is no uniform structure in terms of age-group competitions at the state-level. 

Furthermore, the fact that Shah takes pride in increasing the match fees from ₹5,500 to ₹10,000 among U-16 and U-19 matches and from ₹12,500 to ₹20,000 for senior-level players, also highlights the ambition that the BCCI have in uplifting cricket among women in India.

There exists a need within the BCCI to create a separate wing or an administrative body within the organisation that prioritise the needs and requirements of women cricketers while the board continues to prefer male cricketers so evidently and keep introducing one bilateral series after another while not paying nearly enough attention to their female counterparts.