“Fairly positive that we’d see it taking place in a 12 months or two,” mentioned an optimistic Shikha Pandey on being requested when can one probably see a full-fledged Women’s Indian Premier League (IPL) going forward. The Ladies’s T20 Problem was performed for the very first time in 2018 and in a one-off match, the Supernovas have been in a position to outclass the TrailBlazers.
Then, in 2019, the BCCI organised a three-team match as an alternative of a one-off match, that includes a brand new workforce referred to as Velocity together with Trailblazers and Supernovas.
Shikha performed the inaugural version of the match for the TrailBlazers whereas within the 2019 version, she represented Velocity.
This 12 months, BCCI had scheduled a four-team contest in the Women’s T20 Challenge with seven matches in comparison with final 12 months’s 4. Nonetheless, the coronavirus pandemic pressured the postponement of the match.
In a telephonic interview with ANI, Shikha Pandey spoke concerning the Ladies’s IPL and the way the competitors can encourage extra women within the nation to take up the game.
“As a cricketer, if you happen to ask me, having the high-intensity video games and having the ability to play them can be an enormous plus for us, on the worldwide stage, you get to play high-intensity video games, to have world-class cricketers taking part in alongside you, you get to be taught a lot from them when it comes to their expertise. With IPL matches being taking place and them being televised, lots of younger women would be capable to watch it on tv, it might be an enormous factor as being a 90s child I didn’t get the prospect to look at televised girls’s matches a lot,” mentioned Shikha whereas talking concerning the prospects of the Women’s IPL.
“It might encourage the youthful lot to take up cricket. We have now bought an enormous expertise pool inside our home cricket, I’d say Ladies’s IPL ought to occur and I’m very positive in one other 12 months or two, we are going to see a really effectively organised Ladies’s IPL. We have now performed Ladies’s T20 Problem in 2018 and 2019, the type of reception we bought from the folks that got here to look at these matches was wonderful, the stadium was jampacked, any worldwide collection we play in India, we’ve got at all times obtained nice assist from the gang,” added the pacer who made her debut in 2014.
The 31-year-old Shikha additionally talked about what prompted her to jot down a protracted Twitter thread, asking the involved authorities to not tinker with guidelines to make girls’s cricket extra “enticing”.
There have been options of making an attempt out a smaller ball or shorter pitch for ladies’s cricket, however Shikha had suggested that rather than changing the rules, authorities should look to market the sport better.
Elaborating about her Twitter thread, Shikha mentioned: “I’ve been listening to options to make girls’s cricket extra interesting for some time now, there was so much being mentioned concerning the adjustments that have been wanted to be made with a view to make girls’s cricket extra enticing, it was one thing I needed to specific, what I wrote in my Twitter thread was what I actually felt.”
“There have been many individuals who agreed with it, however I used to be completely happy that individuals who didn’t agree with my opinion additionally got here out and talked about it. I used to be very proud of the actual fact that folks have been popping out suggesting adjustments, it means they’re enthusiastic about girls’s cricket and the way it can develop,” she added.
Shikha was part of the Indian squad that made the finals of the 2017 50-over World Cup and T20 World this 12 months. The pacer talked concerning the impression of the finals of each the main tournaments.
India had missed out on profitable each the tournaments, because the facet confronted loss towards England within the 50-over World Cup ultimate, whereas the Harmanpreet Kaur-led facet confronted defeat towards Australia within the T20 World Cup’s summit conflict.
Speaking about 2017 World Cup ultimate, Shikha mentioned: “After the 2017 World Cup, there was a surge in various women who really needed to take up cricket professionally in India, they’ve been coming to to the academies with a view to grow to be subsequent Mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami. The video games after the 2017 World Cup have been televised regardless of the place we’ve got performed.”
“It was wonderful to see so many individuals come down on the MCG to look at the finals of the T20 World Cup, it’s as soon as in a lifetime alternative to play on the MCG to play in a entrance of so many individuals on Ladies’s Day with greats like Katy Perry and Billie Jean King. It was a spectacle, we misplaced the match, sure, however we have been very fortunate to play in entrance of so many individuals,” mentioned Shikha whereas speaking concerning the T20 World Cup on the Melbourne Cricket Floor.
Shikha, who has scalped 73 wickets in ODIs, additionally talked about her learnings from the losses the Indian facet suffered within the finals of the 2 main ICC tournaments.
“Everybody’s psychological setup is totally different, I’ve learnt lots of issues from the 2 finals that I performed in, I at all times imagine that you simply be taught much more from defeats than from the success you’ve got, holding your nerve in high-pressure conditions is one thing I’ve learnt, to have the ability to suppose clearly is one other factor I’ve learnt,” mentioned Shikha.
The Indian girls’s workforce was final seen in motion within the finals of the T20 World Cup this 12 months towards Australia. After that, coronavirus pandemic pressured all sporting occasions to return to a halt.
On being requested about how she spent her lockdown days, Shikha mentioned: “The preliminary few days have been a bit tough, however then as soon as I began following my routine, I had a timetable for myself, I’ve been understanding twice a day, the coach has been actually useful as he has been sending the programmes, I’ve been staying in isolation at Goa Cricket Indoor facility, I’ve spent lots of time with my household, it’s a privilege to be at house for this lengthy.”
The Ladies’s 50-over World Cup is slated to be performed in New Zealand subsequent 12 months and Shikha opined that the workforce would make it possible for everyone seems to be within the peak of their health after they get again to the sphere once more.
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“I can not actually assess the time I’ll require to get again into form, I’ve been doing my conditioning periods and I’ve stored them as a high precedence, I’ve been doing all the things to be in one of the best form potential. I’m hopeful that we’ve got the 2021 World Cup subsequent 12 months on time,” Shikha mentioned.
“I’m actually wanting ahead to it, once we get again to the sphere we are going to make it possible for we’re at peak of our health, we are going to make it possible for we’re mentally and bodily match,” she added.
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