The expected launch of the Indian Women’s Premier League in March will echo the huge impact of the hundred in England, believes Jemimah Rodrigues.
The 21-year-old is back with the North Superchargers for a second season of the 100-ball competition, just over a week after sealing silver with India in women’s cricket’s Commonwealth Games debut.
While opinion is still sharply divided on the men’s Hundred, the inaugural season was seen as a resounding success in accelerating the women’s game, a moment Rodrigues wants to recreate at home.
“[The IPL] it seems like it’s going to happen for sure this time, and we’re really looking forward to it,” the shooter told the PA news agency.
“It will change things massively, like how Hundred cricket changed in England and the WBBL [Women’s Big Bash League] cricket changed in Australia, I am sure women’s IPL will drastically change the game in India and maybe that will be the key to win gold and win trophies.”
The first edition of the Hundred broke both viewership and attendance records for the domestic women’s game and created a new audience. A report by the Women’s Sport Trust in February found that 25%, or 2.7 million viewers, who watched the England Women’s or the Women’s edition of the Hundred did not watch a single televised men’s cricket match last year.
In March, Sourav Ganguly, president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) told reporters: “This [the full-fledged women’s IPL] must be approved by the AGM. We plan to start that by next year hopefully.”
Talk of the potential launch of the women’s IPL has escalated this week, with multiple Indian media outlets suggesting plans for a March 2023 start were all but rubber-stamped.
? NEWS NEWS: Cricket Hong Kong and FairBreak fix dates for FairBreak Invitational T20?@CricketHK is excited to announce the revised dates for the FairBreak Invitational T20, which will be held in Hong Kong from 3 to 16 April 2023 https://t.co/dOYRyhEL6z
— FairBreak (@fairbreakglobal) August 15, 2022
The privately funded international women’s cricket competition, the FairBreak Invitational, originally scheduled for March, sparked further speculation on Thursday when organizers announced a move in April to, read a statement, “better ensure the participation of players from the whole world”.
Rodrigues believes she could have been dropped from her national team if it wasn’t for a standout first season with the Superchargers that saw her top 92 runs and score 249 runs.
Growing up, the Mumbai native said “people weren’t open” to the idea of girls playing cricket, though her father always encouraged Rodrigues to ignore the naysayers.
Attitudes began to change, she believes, after India impressed in their World Cup final defeat to England in 2017 at Lord’s, one of the closest contests in the tournament’s history.
Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the first Women’s World Cup and the founding of the Women’s Cricket Association of India. Meanwhile, Rodrigues was speaking a day after the 75th anniversary of India’s independence from British rule.
It’s a lot of history for a woman who will only be 22 in a few weeks. Rodrigues admits her evolving role within the latest chapter of her sport is not something she often considers.
However, she added: “I never thought that things would happen so quickly, so quickly for me, and also to be a part of this legacy.
“Women cricketers who have played before me have worked hard.
“Because of them, we are enjoying the fruits. They didn’t have the attention, they didn’t have the publicity, they didn’t have what we have today.
“But we’re taking it, so it’s our responsibility to make sure we set the right example and leave a good legacy for those who come after us. That’s the ultimate goal.”
Rodrigues was speaking at a Superchargers event at Trinity Leeds as part of their partnership with Rola Wala.
