After days of speculation on Sunday Sourav Ganguly, President of BCCI confirmed that possibilities of Women’s IPL or the Women’s T20 Challenge “is still on”. He also said that the tournament will be played between 1-10 November in the United Arab Emirates with 4 teams.
This news came when the board came under the criticisms from a certain section of media when they cancelled the proposed tour to England. At the same time, he also said that the board is thinking about setting up a camp prior to the T20 matches. BCCI is also considering a series between South Africa and West Indies with a tour to Australia before the 2021 World Cup.
However, Alyssa Healy, the Australian wicketkeeper-batter, seemed unhappy with the fact that the proposed Women’s IPL matches clashes with the WBBL 06. This prominent Australian batter who became the ‘Player of the Match’ in the 2020 ICC T20 World Cup Final, was also played the inaugural Women’s T20 exhibition match in 2018. She expressed her anguish over a series of tweets. This eventually led to the heated argument with renowned cricket expert and journalist Boria Majumdar.
So during the WBBL…. cool https://t.co/w5aNhN9FTw
— Alyssa Healy (@ahealy77) August 2, 2020
One seldom watch an international cricket coming out on Twitter. She was furious about the uncertainty regarding the viability of Indian players in WBBL. At the same time, she was not ready to back out from her points. WBBL for the last two years has done imminence to the development of Women’s Cricket in Australia and earned the praise from the fraternity. Last year, Cricket Australia organized WBBL as a standalone tournament and gained success.
So the Indian players who’ve already signed wbbl contracts will do what? And all the international marquee players that will be in aus for wbbl? Good luck with it…..
— Alyssa Healy (@ahealy77) August 2, 2020
Majumder, on the other hand, stood to his point and mentioned that if BCCI organizes a bilateral series with South Africa, it will be hard for players to get NOC’s from their respective boards. Players need to prioritize their international duties.
And also If there is a bilateral series in October between @BCCIWomen and South Africa women I think national team games will in any case get priority. This tournament is likely is what @BCCI confirms.
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) August 2, 2020
Cricketers like Rachel Haynes and newly appointed Brisbane Heats captain Jess Jonassen came to support Healy and cited that the turn of events is unfortunate. Haynes, the vice-captain of Australia said that the boards should not compete against each other, rather try to develop the game.
https://twitter.com/RachaelHaynes/status/1289864298705989633
Charlotte Edwards, the former England skipper, joined in and said that three domestic tournaments like WBBL, Women’s IPL and The Hundreds need a separate window so that three of them can join hands to develop the women game.
Needs to be a window for Women’s IPL, WBBL and The Hundred. All play a massive part in raising the standards and growing the game. https://t.co/biiShKjfRw
— Charlotte Edwards (@C_Edwards23) August 2, 2020
Former New Zealand captain Suzie Bates who has been part of both the WBBL and Women’s T20 Challenge reacted too and said it would be shameful for both the domestic league if both the league clashes with each other.
What a huge shame for both the WBBL and WIPL competitions there is a clash.
— Suzie Bates (@SuzieWBates) August 2, 2020
However, stalwarts of Indian cricket, Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami welcomed the move and thanked BCCI in their respective tweets.
This is excellent news . Our ODI World Cup campaign to finally kick start . A big thank you to @SGanguly99 @BCCI @JayShah and thank you @BoriaMajumdar for your support to women’s cricket . https://t.co/JpJSMGapzV
— Mithali Raj (@M_Raj03) August 2, 2020
Glad to know that @BCCI & Dada have taken such important decisions for the development & upliftment of women's cricket. Can't wait to get back on the field. 👍🏼 @SGanguly99 @BCCIWomen @mandhana_smriti @ImHarmanpreet @M_Raj03 @IPL
Special thanks to @BoriaMajumdar da from my side. https://t.co/a3DjEZrzZt
— Jhulan Goswami (@JhulanG10) August 2, 2020
It would be worth remembering that there had been a tussle between the two boards in the pasts. In 2019 Australian Players were not allowed to play in Women’s IPL or Women’s T20 Challenge because of the communication break down between the boards. the T20 Challenge would not have clashed with the WBBL if it had taken place when it was scheduled to, on the sidelines of the IPL in April-May.
Now, with the IPL moving to September-November, things have changed. Along with cricketers, fans too got divided. Though many of them came in support of Healy and backed WBBL, there are also voices who spoke against.
This.
Women's cricket doesn't currently have the same level of fixture congestion as seen in the men's game at the moment.
There's still an opportunity for boards to work together and create windows to prevent clashes between domestic leagues and avoid club vs country dilemmas. https://t.co/aVa9QOwR1T
— hypocaust (@_hypocaust) August 2, 2020
Notably, India T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur has played a key role for Sidney Thunders. She has 713 runs with the strike rate of 117 in 3 seasons. In the very first year, her batting earned praises from Adam Gilchrist. Smriti Mandhana overcame her horrible performances for Brisbane Heats (89 runs in 12 matches) and did well for Hobert Hurricanes in 2018-19 (318 runs in 13 matches). These two along with Jemimah Rodrigues missed the first stand-alone WBBL last year due to their tour to West Indies.
However, the tussle continued between Alyssa Healy and Boria Majumder in a flurry of tweets.
I’m sure I could drop a few cricketing degrees on Twitter as well. I’m comfortable I’ve had my say, it’s no longer my debate. That’s for the powers at be now! Next time pick up the phone and ring me and we can have the discussion. You can razzle dazzle me with your fancy words…
— Alyssa Healy (@ahealy77) August 3, 2020
And if you aren’t keen let’s stop this rightaway for the tournament has been announced and this is a futile thread. I respect disagreement and as I said yesterday let’s agree to disagree. I would better watch you play than engage here with you.
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) August 3, 2020
Selfish?! If you actually read the thread it’s about players – including the Indian players with WBBL contracts who’ve been wanting to play it…… also includes every other international player who’d love to support the Women’s IPL but can’t because they’re contracted to WBBL https://t.co/kMSCZLpjQP
— Alyssa Healy (@ahealy77) August 2, 2020