India ODI skipper Mithali Raj has said that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should organise women's Indian Premier League (IPL) by next year even it is on a 'slightly smaller scale' than the men's IPL.
"I personally feel they should start a women's IPL by next year, even if it's on a slightly smaller scale and with some changes in rules, such as, say, have five to six foreign players in the first edition instead of four as is the case with the men's IPL," ESPN Cricinfo quoted Raj as saying.
The cricket governing body had scheduled a four-team contest in this year's Women's T20 Challenge with seven matches compared to last year's four, which were slated to take place parallel to the men's IPL playoffs. However, the coronavirus pandemic forced the BCCI to postpone the IPL until April 15.
Raj said some existing IPL franchises could own teams to facilitate the women's tournament and added that the BCCI should not 'wait forever'.
"I agree we don't have the depth in the domestic pool yet, but the key is to get the existing franchises to form teams, even if [only] five or six of them are keen to begin the process because in any case, the BCCI was going to have four teams [in the Women's T20 Challenge]," she said.
"You cannot wait forever; you have to begin at some point, and gradually, year by year, you can keep evolving the league and then bring it down to four foreign players," Raj added.