‘It’s a big challenge for women’s cricket’: Jhulan Goswami wants ICC to prioritise T20 franchise leagues over bilateral series

Legendary Indian fast bowler Jhulan Goswami weighed in on the franchise versus international cricket debate. Jhulan said that franchise leagues is the way to go but International Cricket Council (ICC) needs to give it priority in order to grow women’s cricket. 
 

“It's a big challenge for women's cricket. Earlier we saw these things happen for men's cricket but never expected it to happen for women's cricket, but that's happening (on calendar clashes). And I'm happy to see that. The ICC needs to take care, franchise cricket is the future of women's cricket. And that's the growth of women's cricket globally. You have to give priority to every franchise league otherwise cricket will not grow” Jhulan told ESPNCricinfo. 
 

“See how many quality cricketers were produced by franchise cricket in the last few years, starting with WBBL as well as the Hundred, WCPL, WPL. A lot of youngsters they've provided every year so you have to give priority to those windows and after that you have to have bilateral series. If you have your bilateral series and franchise leagues clashing then you will lose out on quality cricketers. And if you don't have quality cricketers then your tournament is not going to be successful,” she added.

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Jhulan further said that the prominent players need to make themselves available for franchise cricket. If they are busy playing in bilateral series, the franchise T20 tournaments will suffer.
 

“In women's cricket we don't have a lot of options, a few quality cricketers we have in the world. If they're occupied in bilateral series, then the volume of the [T20] tournaments is going to go down. We should make sure that when the premier league (franchise) tournaments are going on, give them certain windows and after that you have the bilateral series. It will help women's cricket's growth also. That is my personal view,” the 41-year-old opined.

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Jhulan in WCPL

Jhulan will be seen in Trinbago Knight Riders’ (TKR) dugout in the upcoming Women’s Caribbean Premier League (WCPL) 2024. Ahead of the women’s T20 World Cup 2024 in Bangladesh, Indian players are busy playing in Women’s The Hundred competition. There are a few Indian players who will play in the WCPL as well. 
 

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