Mithali Raj focused on World Cup; asks all to leave women's IPL issue to 'best judge' BCCI

Putting water on the controversies and contentious discussions around a women’s version of the Indian Premier League, the skipper of the India’s Women ODI and Test team, Mithali Raj has said that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the “best judge” to decide the viability of such tournaments as there are various non-cricketing aspects are involved in it.

“As a player, I have always believed that the BCCI is the best judge of when a tournament like women’s IPL can be held because it’s not just about conducting but a whole lot of logistics and commerce is involved in it. There are lot of other factors too. People do say that it’s time for women’s IPL, but I think the Board is the best judge to understand when they can come up with the Women’s IP,” Mithali said in an interview with Cricket.com.

On the other hand, Mithali said that Indian players should be focusing on the upcoming ODI World Cup leaving the discussions of an IPL for the BCCI to do.

She said that her sole focus is building and developing an all-round side to perform well at the World Cup by making full use of the widening pool of players coming through the ranks of domestic cricket.

“Right now, I feel instead of talking about the IPL, it’s important that we focus on the World Cup as that it’s a major event. At the moment it’s important for me to get the team prepared for the World Cup. If the team does well in the World Cup, then it will be a huge boost for the sport in the country and for the domestic players as well. This season there is a huge difference in the domestic standards. The pool of players has increased based on how the domestic season has been conducted. Having the India-A, Emerging teams, Under-19 teams, domestic structure is giving a platform for these players to perform,” she added.

Mithali led India Women to the tour of Australia last month for an unsuccessful campaign across both the ODI and Test format. They were brilliant with the bat in the only Test match but could not quite enforce a result in their favor. Their best performance in the 50 over format came only in the final game of the three-game series after losing the series.