BCCI to conduct women's red-ball cricket tournament from March 28 - Reports

Domestic red-ball cricket for women was last hosted by the BCCI in 2018.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced a significant step forward for women’s cricket with the return of domestic red-ball tournaments. The Senior Women’s Inter-Zonal Multi-Day Trophy will be held in Pune starting March 28th, marking a welcome comeback for the red-ball format after a six-year absence. Domestic red ball cricket for women was last held in 2018.

This big move comes after the Indian women’s team returned to test cricket. Recently, the Indian test team played two matches in December 2023. One against Australia and another against England in home conditions. Harmanpreet Kaur-led India won both the test matches against Australia and England.

The red-ball tournament will be hosted by the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA), where six teams will be participating in the much-awaited women’s red-ball games. The East, West, North, South, Central, and North-East teams will battle it out for the prestigious title. All six teams will play in a series of five matches that will be played over three days each. 

The tournament will start with the quarter-finals matches between the East Zone and North-East Zone and the West Zone and Central Zone on March 28, with the semifinals slated for April 3.

“It is a welcome step taken by BCCI. The national team has started playing Test cricket again and we need the next generation of cricketers to play red ball cricket at the domestic level,” former India pacer Amita Sharma told PTI.

The women’s red-ball tournament will begin right after the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024, which will end on March 17.

“I would also want red ball to be played at the state level and not just zonal level. Back in the day we had both those events,” she added.

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