Former India internationals Sudha Shah (2nd right) & L Balaji (right) during the unveiling of TNCA-Indian Bank women’s one-day and T20 trophies on Friday
CHENNAI: When talks on women’s IPL started, skipper Mithali Raj cited the lack of a bigger pool of players as reason for not having a league similar to men’s. The standard of India A team was also not encouraging, which was evident with the way they were thrashed by Australia in two warm-up fixtures in March, before the bilateral series in Vadodara.
The point here is how India need to strengthen its domestic structure in order to produce quality second string players. To encourage women cricketers from the state, Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) is organising two ODI and T20 tournaments between June 15 and 30. Six teams will take part. The league will see the likes of India internationals MD Thirush Kamini, Niranjana Nagarajan, and budding cricketer Hemalatha Dayalan.
Sudha Shah, former India cricketer who represented Tamil Nadu, spoke of the need for more intra-state matches. “Every state should conduct such tournaments. Andhra Pradesh and Hyderabad have district-level leagues. One can be at the nets for a long time but you need to play matches to get better. We do have U-16, U-19 and U-23 mes at the national level. But intra-state events will give opportunities at the grassroots level. Around 200 cricketers will play this tournament and we have players from other districts too. With more matches and exposure, these youngsters will form a strong bench strength,” said the 59-year-old. She is coach of Green Invaders, one of the six teams.
Shah was given the BCCI Lifetime Achievement award for women for the year 2017-18 on Thursday. This is the first time the national body has introduced a category called International Women Cricketer Of The Year. Talking about the rise of women’s cricket, Shah said, “Earlier, it used to be only senior and junior cricketer of the year awards. But this time Harmanpreet (Kaur) and Smriti (Mandhana) are receiving awards under the new category. This will encourage players to perform. After women’s cricket came under the umbrella of BCCI, opportunities have increased. There are video analysts, scorers, physios, trainers, referees and match officials. When we played, it was just the manager and coach. Now, you will have a 15-member support staff travelling with the team.”
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