Indian women's team opener Smriti Mandhana feels the country has enough depth to start a six-team women's IPL. The 25-year-old also stated the example of the men's team about how the quality of cricket went higher for them after the introduction of IPL.
"When the men's IPL started, there were same number of states and the quality went higher as they played. IPL today isn't the same as the one 10 or 11 years ago. For women's cricket, I think we have enough girls and enough states. In fact, we will have around 5-6 good teams to start with. Till we start, we don't know," Smriti Mandhana said on Ravichandran Ashwin's YouTube channel.
"5-6 teams, we are good to go with. But I am not sure how 8 teams are going to look like. I think we need to start with 5 or 6 teams so we can get to 8 teams very soon. Till we don't start, we are not giving the exposure to the girls to move on to the next level. I have played Big Bash 3 or 4 years ago and the quality now is completely different. In Australia, there are 40-50 players to play international cricket any day. I really want that to happen to Indian cricket and IPL will play a huge role in it. Women's IPL will be so nice and I am looking forward to it," Smriti added.
Talking about playing the lone Test match at Bristol against England, she said: "Test match was a really cool experience. I made my Test debut in 2014 and did not play for around 7-8 years. I think we also played in World Cup finals but the first Test match remains fresh in my memories. You also know how incredible it is to wear those whites and go out to play Test cricket. The Test match was fantastic."
"I think, 4 days were not enough to get the result. That showed how good both teams played actually. Nowadays we see how 4 days are sufficient to get results in England. It was an amazing experience to be a part of the Test match."
Mandhana also shared her thoughts about the possibility of 5th day in women's cricket that can help Test matches to get results.
"It depends on the wicket. The wicket was different in Bristol. A 5-day Test match will be a good experience but right now, I'd love to play as many Test (4 or 5 days). To start with, we can see how Test cricket moves ahead with 4 days. We can add the 5th day if results are not seen in 4 days. But for that, we need to play Test matches in regular intervals."
( With inputs from ANI )
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