Indian cricketer Jemimah Rodrigues believes a women's Indian Premier League (IPL) would help in unearthing more young talent like Shafali Verma which would help the national team to do well at global level.
Australia and England already have T20 tournaments for women cricketers. Jemimah feels, the game will develop in India if a similar league is conducted in the country - namely a women's IPL.
"If you see the Big Bash and the Kia Super League have developed the game out there so much for Australia, England and now even New Zealand has started. That's (IPL) definitely going to develop the game and it's also going to get newer talent," Rodrigues told ICC's '100% Cricket'.
The 19-year-old Rodrigues added, “We came to know about Shafali Verma through the IPL, she did so well in the IPL. We knew she could do well in the domestic circuit but after that playing against international players and being that fearless person we can get many more talents rising up playing such matches”
The young batswoman feels that a full-fledged women’s IPL can boost the Indian team’s bench strength and going to develop the game.
The Board had decided to organise a four-team women's T20 challenge to run parallel to the men's IPL play-offs with a total of seven matches to be played .
The BCCI's efforts to expand the women's IPL, she said, “the tournament was a great learning experience for the Indian players who got the opportunity to rub shoulders with veterans of the game. Playing matches in front of a huge crowd is a different experience. That’s going to help us play well in international cricket. And above all, the experience we are going to get sharing the dressing room with Sophie Devine, Meg Lanning is huge. We will get to learn so much. It will be great to have a women’s IPL, the BCCI are on it, and hopefully soon we will be having a proper women’s IPL.”
She also backed the idea of increasing the maximum no. of overs for bowlers in match.
“It makes a lot of difference you can go in with five bowlers in the side relying on the fact that one of them will get an extra over. If anyone fails you can add up even to your batting order. I think it makes a lot of difference, especially at crucial moments . When a bowler can win the match for you there is nothing like it. I believe bowlers win matches for us,” Jemimah added.