BCCI to Organize Women's Red-Ball Tournament After WPL 2024: Reports

According to a source, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has designed a plan to introduce women's red-ball cricket to the country through a multi-day competition. The competition is scheduled to take place shortly after the Women's Premier League (WPL), which concludes on March 17.

A glorious moment for Women's team -

According to a Cricbuzz report, the tournament will begin on March 29 in Pune and will feature teams from six zones - East, West, North, South, Central, and North-East - competing in five matches.

The event will begin with two quarterfinals held on March 29, 30, and 31. Following this stage, the championship will progress to two semifinals, which are slated to take place concurrently on April 5, 6, and 7. The tournament's grand finals are planned for April 9, 10, and 11. However, the identities of the two teams directly seeded in the semifinals were unknown at the time, according to the report.

The move follows the Indian women's team's return to Test cricket. In recent years, the team has played test matches against Australia and England. Domestic red-ball cricket for women was last played in 2018.

It is a welcome step taken by BCCI. The national team has started playing Test cricket again and we need the next generation of cricketers to play red-ball cricket at the domestic level.
~former India pacer Amita Sharma told PTI

I would also want the red ball to be played at the state level and not just zonal level. Back in the day, we had both of those events.
~she added

This three-day spectacle will serve as a critical evaluation of the BCCI's ability to effectively motivate players to participate in domestic events, mirroring the board's efforts to ensure that male players place the same value on domestic competitions such as the Ranji Trophy as they do on the IPL and international cricket.

I would love to be a part of the World Test Championship:  Smriti Mandhana

Smriti Mandhana, India's top-order batter, stated her excitement about competing in a tournament similar to the World Test Championship for women. Speaking during a news conference ahead of the Test against England, Mandhana stated -

I would love to be a part of the World Test Championship but that is for the boards and the ICC to decide.

Having watched a lot of men's Test cricket and championships it would be really exciting to be a part of something of that sort. But as I said, that would be their (administrators') decision.
~she added