India women to play more games as BCCI looks to give them more exposure

The women’s game is on the rise and the popularity of women’s cricket has started to grow since last year’s Women’s World Cup where India reached the finals. However, post the World Cup, the Indian women's team had played no international games for six months. Their first series was only in February when they toured South Africa for 3 ODIs and 5 T20Is. 

However, this unequal and inconsistent distribution of matches for the Indian women’s team is set to change. The Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) has decided to regulate the team's fixtures, including more ODIs and T20Is for the upcoming years. A BCCI official revealed that they want to give the women more exposure. Hence, the women will play ODIs against England at home and will also travel to Sri Lanka after the England series and will go to New Zealand in February-March 2019. 

“We are arranging bilateral series with different countries so our women will get more exposure. We will be playing England and then travel to Sri Lanka. Then we will be going to New Zealand for another bilateral series in February-March 2019,” a BCCI official told ESPNCricinfo.

The official also said that by the time India play in Sri Lanka, they would have competed against most of the countries except New Zealand and West Indies. 

“We have already played in South Africa. And by the time we play in Sri Lanka we would have played most of the countries other than New Zealand and West Indies,” the official said. 

While the three ODIs in Sri Lanka in the summer and in New Zealand early next year will be a part of the IWC (ICC Women’s Championship), India will also play five T20Is in Sri Lanka as a build-up to the World T20 later this year. India are also scheduled to participate in the Asia Cup, scheduled for June, which will be played in the T20 format. 

It has also been reported that the BCCI is also planning to schedule the Indian team's departure for the World T20 in November a few weeks in advance to help the team acclimatize to the conditions and prepare better. It will be a welcome step for India as they failed to reach the World T20 semi-finals in its last three editions in 2012, 2014 and 2016.