Pakistan’s women’s T20 league, set to run alongside the PSL next month, will not go as planned. The new PCB management board, led by Najam Sethi, has decided to put the league on hold with the intention of holding it in September.The new league, with a different name, will itself be a four-team tournament.
The idea to create her T20 her league of women was initiated by former chairman Ramiz Raja and the league was to run alongside her PSL matches in Rawalpindi. Ramiz was also a big proponent of the introduction of youth level leagues, intended to commercialize women’s cricket through franchise-based leagues. The fact that the women’s PSL lined up directly with the first edition of the women’s IPL scheduled for March 2023 was also less than ideal for commercial reasons.
Due to a change in PCB leadership, it was agreed by the PSL Board that the Women’s League could not survive during this time. However, PCB continues to find its way into the league. There were discussions about hosting some exhibition matches during the men’s PSL as a test case, but the idea was shelved as well.
ESPNcricinfo speculates that the PCB administration was reluctant to adopt the idea due to lack of resources. Instead, they wanted to invest more in infrastructure and expand their pool of players across the country.But then wisely agreed to host a tournament separate from the men’s PSL at two venues. it was done.
One of PCB’s biggest challenges is creating a team with enough competitive players from the local pool. The Pakistan Women’s Club has a small number of players, around 30-35 senior level cricketers. Pakistan women’s cricket has two tournaments on the national circuit.
Three teams will play the National T20 and ODI Challenge Cup respectively. While there are a number of cricketers selected from trials ahead of the ongoing U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup, the group is still young and in the development stage.
At the time the league was announced, Pakistan had his 12 centrally signed players, adding eight to last year’s number. Pakistan needs 28 more local players for the league, so they need to dig deeper into their hoard of local talent. Lahore Qalandars have also expanded their player development program to women cricketers to broaden Pakistan’s player base. They already have a group of 20+ girls in development at their High Performance Center, which could be feeders for the league. Sethi had previously scrapped Pakistan Junior League (PJL), another project by his predecessor Ramiz. It suffered heavy losses in its first year, and the change of government made the future even more uncertain.
For the Women’s League, Ramiz’s idea was to take advantage of PSL’s production company and use its presence during the PSL period to cover her PSL for the Girls, saving a lot of logistics and production costs. All his PSL franchises were against using the money to cover another tournament with no discounts or cost sharing.The new management wanted to build the league from the ground up to become its own entity. It is said that you can participate in a public tender to do so. PSL franchises have also expressed interest in owning their respective teams within the league.