'Why Should Only Boys Have All The Fun?' - Mumbai T20 League Chairman On Inaugural Women's Edition

'Why should only boys have all the fun?' - Mumbai T20 League Chairman on inaugural women's edition (Image Source: IANS)

Mumbai T20 League Chairman Rajdip: The upcoming Mumbai T20 League is entering its most significant season yet - not because of the star power in the men's league, but because, for the first time, women’s version of the competition will also be held simultaneously.

Three women's teams will participate in the inaugural season of the league, alongside the eight men's franchises participating in the fourth edition of the competition. Rajdip Gupta, Chairman of the Governing Council of the Mumbai T20 League, recalled that launching the women's league was the first assignment handed to him when he took charge, and he is now a happy man on seeing it become a reality.

"The moment I took over as the chairman of this league, I met President Mr. Ajinkya Naik, and he told me, 'Rajdip, we want to have one kind of gender equality at Mumbai Cricket Association. It is very, very important that we also treat our women and girls in the same way we treat our male players. There are many clubs now that have women's teams, but there is a lack of a platform.'

"That was the first assignment they assigned to me, and I said, 'Fine, I'll take this challenge.' I took the challenge, and I think things went well. We opened the bid and received almost six requests for the bid, and out of that, we finalised three of them. With that, three teams got finalised and are now part of the T20 league.

“But I think the idea was to create an opportunity for our girls also, because the Mumbai Cricket Association always believes that girls also have a lot of things to do in cricket as compared to the males. Like, why only boys have all the fun? I think that's what the whole idea is," he said in an exclusive conversation with IANS on Saturday.

Gupta explicitly positions the women’s league as a feeder system for the players to get into the Women's Premier League (WPL) and possibly the Indian team. "It is very, very important. There are many women in Mumbai who are participating in club cricket, and the Mumbai Cricket Association has multiple tournaments for girls.

“So, in that way, we needed to create a visibility (platform) for our women cricketers who can play in WPL and for India. Like, there is a proper platform which needs to be assigned to them so that they can actually show their talent in front of scouting teams of WPL or maybe of the Indian team," he said.

He pointed to Jemimah Rodrigues playing a crucial role in the 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup win as the most powerful argument. "We know that there are 3-4 players who already played for India, and Jemi is one of the classic examples. Like, she was the main girl, and because of her, we won the World Cup.

“Post Jemi's innings, there are lots of changes we have seen in women's cricket. Like, now women also believe that they can actually take cricket as a serious game because I know now parents have also started believing that there is a future and career in this.

“To just support their parents' vision and the cricketers' vision, we needed to have this league, which is very important for us. Today, we are here, and we are already having the league going on," he said.

Apart from creating playing opportunities, participating in the league also gives some financial stability to both men’s and women’s players, feels Gupta. "I think the Mumbai Cricket Association has a better ecosystem if you talk about club cricket and different tournaments. Also, it is very important to create stability in financial terms.

“Like what we did this year when we were talking about the auction, we had a one crore purse for the male cricketers. But at the same time, we decided that the women's purse will be 50 lakh rupees, so that at least there is a financial touch to the whole ecosystem.

“I think we also kept the winning price around Rs 50 lakh. The idea is very simple - to create an ecosystem where people can have financial stability after being a part of it. But more or less, if I say, the entire idea of the women's league is to create gender equality and have a platform where we have to treat our girls and boys in the same way, and that is the whole idea behind this league," he said.

On the men's side, the league's main pull still remains the prospect of sharing the dressing room with India and IPL veterans. "If you see the number of icon players we have today, almost all of them played for India, and many of them played in the IPL. The biggest advantage these players are going to get is directly sharing the dressing room and getting more experience by being with those players.

“People coming from club cricket and directly sharing the dressing room with Surya, Ajinkya, or Shreyas - it's the biggest learning for them. I want to tell all my club cricketers in Mumbai who are looking to be part of the IPL, India, or Mumbai team, I can just tell one thing - 'Chance SoduNako' (Don't miss the chance)," added Gupta.

Once the IPL is over, almost all state T20 leagues begin their initiative to attract fans' attention. Gupta said in terms of pulling fans towards both men’s and women’s leagues, railway stations across Mumbai, Thane, Vasai, and Virar are donning the hoardings and have even signed up around 100-150 content creators for an influencer-only league to boost their social media visibility.

“People coming from club cricket and directly sharing the dressing room with Surya, Ajinkya, or Shreyas - it's the biggest learning for them. I want to tell all my club cricketers in Mumbai who are looking to be part of the IPL, India, or Mumbai team, I can just tell one thing - 'Chance SoduNako' (Don't miss the chance)," added Gupta.

“The way we have planned out the whole season, we gave ample time to team owners to prepare their teams. Plus, sponsorship-wise, we also got enough time. We had a launch, an auction, and then we are having a launch day today. Overall, things went really well because everything was planned properly and we were able to reach our targets on time."

Article Source: IANS