Mithali Raj speaks out on her chances of playing in the Women's IPL

Former Indian Women’s cricket team skipper Mithali Raj has backed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for conducting the maiden Women’s IPL season next year. For many years, BCCI have been criticised for not hosting an exclusive IPL for women, just like the Men’s T20 competition.

Earlier this year, BCCI finally decided to take the plunge as president Sourav Ganguly announced the commencement of the Women’s league in 2023. The tournament is expected to face massive competition from contests like Women’s Big Bash League and The Hundred Women’s Competition.

Also, the Cricket West Indies will be launching the Women’s Caribbean Premier League this year. While cricket pundits believe that the Indian board is late to the party, Mithali Raj thinks otherwise. The 39-year-old understands the elaborate process behind the tournament and is confident of BCCI launching the league next following year. 

“I don’t think we are late. There are a lot of factors involved in launching such a big event. It would have taken the board at least a couple of years to sort things out before launching the Men’s IPL as well. Earlier, we didn’t have a big pool of women cricketers in India.

“However, over the past couple of years, a lot of domestic players have come up the ranks and the Women’s T20 Challenge has played a big part in this. Shafali [Verma] came up through this tournament in 2019 and this year, we’ve seen Kiran Navgire do well.

“If the board has said they want to launch the Women’s IPL next year, they are clearly working on it. We have to understand that launching a big tournament is not just about forming teams. You need to manage the logistics as well,” Mithali Raj said while speaking to Sportskeeda. 

Meanwhile, the batter is also open to participating in the competition. After a glorious career of 23 years, Raj bid adieu to international cricket on June 8. Meanwhile, she retired from the shortest format of the game in 2019. 

When asked about the possibility of seeing her play in the Women’s IPL, Raj believes that she hasn’t decided yet and is keen on keeping the doors open. It would be a treat for the cricket fans to see Mithali play in the IPL as she has been a torchbearer for Women’s cricket in India for the longest time. 

Furthermore, the Jodhpur-born rubbished the rumours of a potential feud between her and Jhulan Goswami. Mithali and Jhulan were the two seniormost players in the Indian team, and there was news of bad blood between the two players. However, the former skipper denied the claims by adding that she and Jhulan share a good camaraderie. 

“There was never any friction with Jhulan. We were very competitive against each other at the U-19 level, but it’s always the case between a bowler and a batter. She wanted to take my wicket and I wanted to score runs off her. I like competing against her because she’s the best bowler in India. We’ve always been good friends,” Mithali Raj claimed.