Women’s Premier League  cricket tournament will help immensely in the development of women’s sports in the country.” Sania Mirza

 Sania Mirza feels that the Women’s Premier League (WPL) cricket tournament will help immensely in the development of women’s sports in the country.

A brainchild of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the WPL will be the women’s counterpart to the highly-successful Indian Premier League (IPL) – the premier franchise-based T20 cricket tournament for men in India and the world. The IPL has been running since 2008.

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The inaugural season of the WPL, with five teams, will be played in March this year.

“It’s obviously great,” Sania Mirza said. “We’re on the way up. Obviously we’ve had so many male cricket stars from our side of the world. To have women stars as well is something, that’s the way forward really. I’m pleasantly surprised.

“We have some huge stars in women’s cricket now as well who are carrying that torch. We need to strive towards taking women’s sport forward, especially in our part of the world where sport is still not the most natural course of a career that young girls choose, especially their parents,” Sania added.

The six-time Grand Slam winner suggested that the response from corporates to bag the ownership rights to the WPL teams speaks volumes about how far women’s sports has come in the country.

“It’s not just, ‘Oh, my God, what are you doing going and playing like boys.’ You can actually say ‘you’re playing like a girl,’” Sania Mirza signed off.

The first and only Indian woman to have won a Grand Slam tennis title, Sania Mirza has already been a trendsetter for Indian female athletes for years. The tennis ace, however, is set to retire next month after the WTA event in Dubai.

Before hanging up her tennis boots, Sania Mirza has already set up one last dance on the big stage after reaching the mixed doubles final, with partner Rohan Bopanna, at the Australian Open 2023, which will be her final Grand Slam appearance.