Women's T20 Challenge to clash with WBBL; foreign stars left unhappy

BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly revealed that the Women's T20 Challenge will be held this season after the Indian Premier League (IPL) Governing Council finalised the plans for the men's IPL to be held from September 19th.

The Women's T20 Challenge too will require a clearance from the Indian Government before being hosted in the UAE.

"I can confirm to you that the women's IPL is very much on and we do have a plan in place for the national team also. We have a plan in place and we will have a camp (before the the tournament) for women, I can tell you that," Ganguly said speaking to the Press Trust of India.

Earlier, the BCCI was heavily criticised for pulling out of a possible Women's tri-series that was to be hosted by England due to 'logistical reasons'. However, this announcement has surely lifted the spirits of the women cricketers, who tweeted to show their support.

Good news! Thank you @SGanguly99 and the BCCI. https://t.co/WWkpydctII

— Poonam Yadav (@poonam_yadav24) August 2, 2020

Women's T20 Challenge to be held in UAE

The BCCI also revealed that the women's games will take place during the men's IPL playoffs week and will comprise of a total of four matches.

Following the same pattern as last year, there will be three teams going head to head in the tournament. Smriti Mandhana, Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur are expected to lead the sides.

“Women’s T20 Challenge will also take place in the UAE and will comprise three teams with four matches to be played during the IPL Playoff week,” the BCCI said.

Foreign stars unhappy with the dates of Women's T20 Challenge

The Women's T20 Challenge will clash with the Women's Big Bash League, which is set to be held between October 17th and November 27th.

This will imply that some Indian women cricketers will have to forego their WBBL contracts to participate in the Women's T20 Challenge. Other foreign cricketers could also miss out on one of the two tournaments due to the logistical difficulties of going back and forth.

Alyssa Healy, Suzie Bates and Rachel Haynes took to twitter to show their discontent for the tournament being held parallel to the WBBL.

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

Agree. If true, it’s a shame... while the game continues to grow, premier domestic competitions do not need to compete against each other. They can be used to showcase the game and support its development around the world.

— Rachael Haynes (@RachaelHaynes) August 2, 2020

What a huge shame for both the WBBL and WIPL competitions there is a clash.

— Suzie Bates (@SuzieWBates) August 2, 2020