Pakistan Women’s League in trouble

LAHORE: Modern-day cricket is all about playing at a fast pace and adopting an aggressive approach in the field. This style of play has emerged from T20 cricket, which is becoming increasingly popular and lucrative, and is also helping to groom players to some extent. This is why T20 leagues for men and women have been organised in various countries.

In Pakistan, various tournaments are also held in this format, with the Pakistan Super League (PSL) at the top of the list. For the past eight years, top international players have been showing off their skills in the PSL, but the dream of a star-studded league for women has not yet been fulfilled.

Although the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) organises tournaments at the grassroots level to promote women’s cricket, the task of organising a world-class women’s league seems impossible in the current situation.

On October 6, 2022, the then Chairman of the PCB, Ramiz Raja, unveiled plans for the introduction of a Women’s League comprising four teams.

The initiative aimed to integrate six foreign and twelve local women cricketers into each team. Regrettably, following Ramiz Raja’s departure from the cricket board, these ambitious plans remained stagnant within the organizational files.

After taking over as chairman of the PCB’s Management Committee on December 22, 2022, Najam Sethi postponed the launch of the Women’s League by one year. However, three exhibition matches were played in March of last year as a trial, in which foreign women cricketers also participated.

Six months later, in June 2023, the leadership of the PCB changed once again, and the launch of the Women’s League remained a dream.

Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar who also serves as the PCB’s patron-in-chief, limited the powers of the Management Committee led by Zafar Ashraf through an ordinance. This is why the current board cannot start any major project. The Management Committee also had to seek permission from the caretaker prime minister for the auction of the digital rights of the PSL.

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Sources told Hum News that the establishment of the Pakistan Women’s League is not looking possible this time either. However, the plan to hold three exhibition matches for women, like last year, is still on. The PCB will form two teams of local and foreign players for the exhibition matches. The matches can be held at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. The PCB will announce the final dates of the matches immediately after finalizing the PSL schedule.

The article concludes by saying that the PCB is facing a number of challenges in organising the Women’s League, including the limited powers of the Management Committee, the need for foreign investment, and the lack of a strong domestic women’s cricket structure. The PCB will need to address these challenges if it wants to make the Women’s League a reality.