Aussies in frame for women's IPL games

Australia’s biggest stars could be headed for India early next month, after the BCCI confirmed the details for this year’s series of women’s Indian Premier League exhibition matches.

A host of the world’s best cricketers will be invited to take part in the Women’s T20 Challenge, which will see three teams contest four matches between May 6-11 in Jaipur.

It follows last year’s one-off exhibition match in Mumbai, a game that featured Australians Alyssa Healy, Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning, Megan Schutt and Ellyse Perry.

While last year’s game was played as a curtain-raiser to a men’s IPL match, this year’s games will be a series of standalone matches, with India stars Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Mithali Raj tipped to captain the three teams.

This year’s Women’s T20 Challenge will see a new team, Velocity, join the Supernovas and Trailblazers.

Three matches will be played at Jaipur’s Sawai Mansingh Stadium on May 6, 8 and 9, before the top two teams play off in the final at the same venue on May 11.

Australia’s players will be involved in pre-Ashes camps in Brisbane from May 13. Last month, CA Female High performance Manager Shawn Flegler said he expected CA would again be supportive of Australians taking part in any IPL exhibition matches played this year.

“It’s a great opportunity for the players, and to see a women’s IPL get off the ground would be a great thing for the game more broadly,” Flegler said.

Speaking at the end of Australia’s most recent ODI series against New Zealand in March, Healy said she’d jump at the chance to be involved in another IPL exhibition match.

“One hundred per cent,” Healy said.

“It would be fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed that experience, heading over there for a few days and playing in that exhibition game.

“It’s probably the next step for the women’s game in the T20 format, so if that gets up and running that’s really exciting.

“I’m sure a lot of the girls would be willing to stick their hand up for it.”

Australia captain Lanning is also keen, and sees a women’s IPL is the missing piece of the puzzle for the game.

"It was a lot of fun,” Lanning said last month.

"I would certainly love to be involved in something like that. The next big step for women's cricket is if an IPL could get up – it's certainly an exciting prospect.”

A full women’s IPL is still believed to be several years away, with the officials hoping to grow the depth of Indian domestic cricket before launching a fully-fledged competition.