Mithali Raj brings caution to establishing a Women's IPL in India

The men’s game has it. It, in fact thrives on it. It’s a harbinger of great excitement in the sport. It’s also excellent for multiculturalism. The flip side, regardless of it being accepted or not, is that it allows a player to decode the key strengths of an opponent. On the same day in IPL, a great opponent will come hard at you from a franchise team. On another day, he will square against you as an international competitor. You get an idea how to prepare yourself for different pitches and surfaces.



These are just some of the reasons why the IPL is mushrooming with such overwhelming support from all quarters. To state it simply, The IPL binds fans and critics like few other aspects of the modern day can.



In the past few months, there’s been a growing rabble auguring for initiation of the Women’s IPL. Sounds like a fantastic idea. Doesn’t it? A simple fact is, Australia where perhaps there aren’t the number of fans that there are in India have already begun and to great success the Women’s Big Bash League. It’s grown into multiple seasons.



Fans have been wondering for some time, “why not have our own IPL here?” It’s been one of those ambiguous statements on which you can expect myriad views. Everyone wishes that there’d be a women’s IPL but the perspective is, will it ever be?



This is an idea that is open to discussion. Especially now that one of the games’ leading lights- Mithali Raj- has expressed some caution regarding considering IPL for the women’s game.



But what stands out from Mithali Raj’s concern regarding the establishment of the women’s IPL is the sheer lack of domestic mass of women cricketers in India.



This, precisely, makes sense. Australia has a strong domestic set up to boost the women’s game. Direct entries into the national side and, therefore, into myriad franchise destinations stem from well-oiled machinery induced into the state, domestic competitions.



Does India have a similar system here for the women’s game?



If you consider some famous draws in the men’s game who’ve gone on to establish their presence in cricket, then you’d realize a lot of names have emanated from the IPL. But they’ve in fact been playing tons of domestic cricket for back-to-back seasons. Many have gone onto represent the national set-up having made headlines in the IPL. But importantly, they had a strong domestic playing experience on their resume.



Karun Nair. Sanju Samson. Yuzvendra Chahal. Ambati Rayudu. The list is sort of endless. Mithali Raj’s concern seems rational and appears from her quintessential prudence to read the game. “It’s important to have the pool of players who will be qualified to play an IPL kind of league”, she suggests.



This seems both fair and sound. It reads like simple everyday science. First finds the saplings. Then sow the seeds. Sow lots of them. Then, water them, nourish them and then harvest them. Only then can the result blossom.



Unless and until India does not produce players who depict, at least, marginally the kind of quality that names like Smriti Mandhana, Mithali Raj herself, Shikha Pandey, Jhulan Goswami possess what’s the point of establishing the women’s IPL.