Former Australian captain and a well-known commentator Lisa Sthalekar was not impressed by the way women’s cricket has been handled in India, saying they might fall behind due to the lack of matches while claiming they are the “biggest untapped talent market”.
She further insisted that the lack of matches for the Indian women’s team is a massive cause of concern for women's cricket in India – which is lagging behind amid the COVID-19 pandemic since there is nothing planned for them in the near future.
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India Women team has been struggling to get matches and they still don’t know when they will return to the field after the Women’s T20 Challenge last month in the UAE – their first assignment since they finished runners-up to Australia at the T20 World Cup this year.
However, Lisa admitted that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is moving in the right direction but are “slow” in conducting the Women's T20 Challenge and providing enough match practice to the Women’s cricketers in India.
Sthalekar said as quoted by TOI: “I know the pandemic and what the situation is in India. But the fact that Indian contracted players don't know when they are playing next is a massive concern. They are going to fall behind. I feel they are the biggest untapped talent market. If they get it right, then Indian women's cricket will dominate.”
She also highlighted the quality of cricket played in the recently the Women’s T20 Challenge, where the lowest score was Velocity’s 47, saying it wasn’t the best advertisement for the sport.
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The World Cup winner further added, “On pitches with pace and bounce we will see decent scores. In the Women's T20 challenge, unfortunately, the matches were on low-scoring wickets. Also, the girls had hardly trained and that wasn't the best advertisement for the game.”
Citing the example of Women's Big Bash League – key reason behind Australia Women’s dominance in the world, Sthalekar said: “I think BCCI is moving in the right direction but slow in planning a women's IPL and provide enough match practice.”
She signed off by saying, “The reason why Australian women's cricket is going well is that we have invested in it. Australia is the leader in creating WBBL, which is in its sixth year.”
(With Times of India Inputs)
