College-level Women Cricket League (WCL) launched in Delhi

With a distinct objective to pave the way for women’s cricket and women cricketers to stride out of the shadows of male-dominated sports, India’s first ever Women Cricket League (WCL) has been formed on the lines of Australia‘s Women’s Big Bash Cricket League and Women’s Cricket Super League London.

India’s first ever Women Cricket League (WCL) is an earnest endeavour to provide women cricketers in India equal opportunities and acknowledgement at par with men’s cricket.From kitchen to household chores, from rural to urban areas women have already established their presence in the male-dominated areas.

Still, in today’s time when you think about cricket, the names that instantly come to your mind are Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, or Sachin Tendulkar, but sadly never of an Indian women cricketer.

Mr Parul Jain, Founder, Women Cricket League said, “It's important that young girls coming through can see cricket as a viable option to play at the highest level. The WCL #T20 League, is expected to be of the same repute of the Indian Premier League and Women Big Bash League of Australia in support of women. This will lead to greater interest in women's cricket in India, which has generally been given much less importance than the men's sport.”

'Dronacharya' Cricket Awardee Sunita Sharma, said, “It’s been more than three decades since the Indian women’s cricket team has been formed and have won various matches globally, still there is hardly any acknowledgement of women cricketers in India. While men's cricket underwent huge changes in the 80s and 90s, we were just languishing. However, I am enamoured that a start has been made and we hope to gain a lot from it. Lots of talent will now come to the forefront. We would like to see WCL getting as much attention in future."

The formation of Women Cricket League (WCL) in India will address many obstacles being faced to promote women’s cricket in India and also to celebrate womanhood that will be coinciding with International Women’s Day, 8th March, 2017.

Ms Vandana Thakur, Founder, WCL said, "There is abundant talent in India and through WCL a lot of untapped cricketers will get opportunity and platform to showcase their talent. We shall be doing promotions at school and college levels so that players can come from small towns and villages just like former Indian men's captain, MS Dhoni.”

The objective of Women Cricket League (WCL) is:

- To acknowledge and honour the contribution of the Indian women cricket- To present an international-quality cricket competition for women- To provide exposure and platform to promote women cricket talent in India- To take Indian women cricket beyond boundaries and get them long due international name and fame they deserved- To celebrate the unsung women cricketers of India- To promote and identify the hidden talent in women and take them to the highest pedestals like other sports- To make the sport professional for female cricketers- To produce a large pool of talented Indian women players to play at the National and International levels- To engage hundreds of millions of passionate women cricket fans and encourage and facilitate women to start taking up sports as a career - To create an inclusive work and sporting environment where women players, coaches, employees, volunteers and administrators feel valued and are able to contribute to their full potential. - To set new standards in women sports administration in India

“It is time India has leagues like Women Big Bash Cricket League, Australia, or Women’s Cricket Super League, London. WCL should have started earlier, but it's better late than never. I am more than optimistic that WCL will take Indian women’s cricket beyond boundaries and get them long due international name and fame that they deserved,” added Mr Parul Jain.