How Women's T20 Challenge could've been a huge success, but BCCI's shoddy planning ensured it wasn't

If the Women’s T20 Challenge match was an audition for the Women’s Indian Premier League (IPL), there wasn’t quite a perfect stage for it.

As 26 top woman cricketers of India and the world took the field at the Wankhede here on Tuesday with the hope of showcasing the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) the merits of having a Women’s IPL, empty stands welcomed them along with the scorching afternoon Mumbai heat.

And although Harmanpreet Kaur’s IPL Supernovas and the Smriti Mandhana-led IPL Trailblazers played out a typically intriguing last-ball T20 encounter that included some acrobatic catches that would’ve made even Trent Boult sit up, there just weren’t enough eyeballs on the ground to witness a first of its kind IPL-like women’s T20 match in India.

The absurd timing and a general lack of awareness were the two biggest factors in preventing more fans from flocking in to watch some of the world’s top woman cricketers in action.

A 2pm start on a working day meant that almost all the people who turned up to watch the men’s IPL qualifier later at 7pm decided against preponing their visit to the Wankhede.

The few fans who did turn up for the game, though, appreciated the girls for their honest effort to convince the masses and the bosses.

Mark White, who flew down from London with his young son to witness the IPL qualifier and final in Mumbai, said he wished he could watch women and men double-headers back in England’s T20 club competition.

“It’s great that they have done something like this to get more women and kids involved in the game. A lot of people haven’t turned up today, but I’m sure a women’s IPL can grow if it’s marketed well,” White said.

And therein lay another problem.

White didn’t know until he collected his tickets on Monday that there was a double-header, and that he could watch it with the same qualifier ticket.

An official statement regarding who could watch the women’s game was sent as late as Monday night, and a ban on re-entry meant spectators would compulsorily have to sit inside the stadium for 10 hours if they wished to come early.

“I came to know about the women’s game only on Monday, but in any case, it would’ve been impossible for me to come at 2pm because I was at work,” Dhaval Shah, who entered the Wankhede with his group of friends to watch the men’s encounter at 6pm, said.

There was merely a gentle sprinkling of fans when the game began, and even the vendors, who usually make a killing during IPL matches, had not set up their food and drink stalls until around 5pm.

Kaur, India’s T20I captain, admitted on Monday that the exhibition match will play a key role in determining whether there can be a place for Women’s IPL in Indian cricket’s vast market. “Everything depends on tomorrow's (Tuesday) match, and how we get response from the public,” she said.

The response might have been lukewarm from the public, but surely not from the players. If only the timing of the match was better.