Indian batter Richa Ghosh is excited over the prospective launch of the Women’s Indian Premier League next year and says she would love to represent two-time men’s IPL winners Kolkata Knight Riders if she gets the opportunity.
The 18-year-old explosive hitter believes the inauguration of a WIPL in the women’s team calendar will be a “huge thing“ for the Indian players and will fasten the growth of the national side by providing cricketers like her a chance to rub shoulders with the best.
Ghosh hoped that the WIPL in the works under BCCI’s umbrella will be a six-team tournament at least and played along the lines of the Women’s Big Bash League in Australia and The Hundred in England for more immediate and concrete benefits to India’s talent pipeline.
As per reports, global star icon Shahrukh Khan-owned KKR franchise is one of the IPL teams interested in also buying a WIPL side to spread their wings in the Indian set-up. Ghosh took heart from KKR’s inclination to grow the game and expected the side to tap into the large talent pool available in Bengal.
“Bengal has a lot of talented players who play at the club and district levels. If KKR can tap into this talent pool, it will give the girls an opportunity to take their game to the next level,”
she said in an interview with Sportskeeda.
“I’m a professional, so I’ll give my best to whichever franchise picks me. I would love to play for KKR if they build a Women’s IPL team,”
she added, stressing that an influx of Bengal players in the side will add the missing dimension to KKR’s game and their squad.
Despite her young age, Ghosh is considered one of India’s promising young talents, with her stroke-making ability evident in the limited opportunities she has had at the highest level.
The wicketkeeper-batter has played 17 ODIs and 14 T20Is for the national side, apart from featuring for the Trailblazers in the women’s exhibition T20 tournament and Hobart Hurricanes in the WBBL in Australia.
That the much-awaited WIPL is in the works and is set for a launch in 2023 was first confirmed by BCCI secretary Jay Shah in an interview with the PTI earlier this year, remarks on which board president Sourav Ganguly put a stamp of approval recently.
India made the finals of the CWG T20I event in Birmingham last month and have been a team on the rise in white-ball cricket since making a breakthrough appearance at the 2017 ODI World Cup final at Lord’s against England.
