Women's IPL is four years away, says Sourav Ganguly

BCCI's concern over depth of the domestic pool of players for staging a full-fledged T20 league in India has become clear with the board's president Sourav Ganguly sayin such a tournament is "four years away".

"You need to understand the practicality of it," Ganguly told India Today. "You need a lot more women players. I see that in four years' time, to get a seven-team IPL with the best women players (in participation)."

After organising a one-off match, comprising two teams - Supernovas and Trailblazers, in 2018 as a curtain-raiser to the first IPL Qualifier, BCCI added a third team - Velocity - and hosted the Women's T20 Challenge in Jaipur earlier this year.

With senior players and coaches giving a nod to the event, BCCI is brainstorming the possibility of having four teams with each side playing the other twice. Moreover, with a good turn out in Surat during the bilateral series between India and South Africa, the board is planning to host next year's Women's T20 Challenge there.

"You have to let the state association teams get stronger, a lot of them are getting stronger. The push for women's cricket has been enormous over the last few years. Three years down the line, when you have 150-160 players, you can take the IPL forward. Right now, we have 50-60 players. With the push BCCI has for women's cricket, that will only increase," Ganguly said.