Is There Actually A Pool Problem That Is Stopping BCCI To Conduct Women's IPL?

The BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, on Thursday, said that "hopefully, in the future, we will be able to host a bigger women’s IPL once the number of women players [player pool] goes up," in an interview with Sportstar. 

According to Ganguly, women's IPL is only possible 'once the women player pool goes up.' 

How many players does it take to conduct a T20 league? Let's take an example of Women's Big Bash League(WBBL), which is one of the most successful T20 Leagues being played. 

The teams in WBBL are owned & named the same as that in the men's competition, which means there are eight teams competing in the tournament. In Australia, there are seven teams that play in the Australian Women's Twenty20 Cup. 

Roughly, if we count an average of 15 squad players for one season then Australia has a total of 105 minimum T20 women players playing in Australia's premier tournament. 

India's premier T20 domestic tournament for women is the Women's Senior T20 Trophy in which a total of 37 teams play. There are more than 550 women cricketers playing in the T20 tournament every season. 

After this, the Women's Senior T20 Challenger Trophy is played where the top 45 women cricketers get to play. 

Indian Women's cricket team is third in the ICC T20 Rankings. This means the quality is there in the domestic circuit that the national team is achieving results. 

BCCI conducts an exhibition three-team tournament - Women's T20 Challenge during the IPL playoffs where roughly 20 overseas players participate. 

Also Read: Ashes 2021-22 - England vs Australia Schedule and Squads

The pool of quality cricketers is already enough to make at least a six team-tournament if BCCI wants. However, it all comes down to the management if they actually want to spread cricket or not. The ball is in Sourav Ganguly's court.