Women's T20 Exhibition Games set to return during IPL 2019

Just like last year’s T20 Exhibition match at the Wankhede stadium, The BCCI is set conduct the same during the upcoming IPL season.  The T20 exhibition match involves top Indian and Overseas women cricketers. However the Board has decided to take a step further this year by conducting a series of matches during the IPL.



As per reports in ESPNCricinfo, the planning around running these exhibition matches during the IPL has been on for a few months now. However, staging a full-fledged domestic women's T20 league in India - in the manner of the eight-team WBBL in Australia or the six-team Kia Super League in the UK - may not be a possibility just yet given the concerns of the BCCI's think-tank over the depth of India's domestic pool of players.



Even though the last year’s match had a very less attendance due to a 2pm start, this year’s matches are most likely a best-of-three series. The number of teams will remain the same as last year i.e. 2 Teams, the team composition will be similar to the men’s IPL teams, with a maximum of four overseas players per side.



This is a brief outline of the plan. Even though the BCCI management and Committee of Administrators have given their approvals to the idea, the plan is yet to be finalized as the IPL schedule will the decided subject to announcement of General Election dates by the Election Commission of India. The exact number of matches and the participating players will be decided by the BCCI once the IPL schedule is out.



Australia's Meg Lanning, Ellyse Perry, Alyssa Healy, Megan Schutt and Beth Mooney, England's Danielle Wyatt and Danielle Hazell, and New Zealand's Suzie Bates, Sophie Devine and Lea Tahuhu featured in the last year’s Exhibition match. India’s T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur led Supernovas to a three wicket victory over Trailblazers led by India’s vice-captain Smriti Mandhana. For her all round performance, Suzie Bates was named as the player of the match.