IPL 2018: BCCI to organise women's exhibition match ahead of Qualifier 1

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New Delhi, May 12: In a bid to give a major push to female cricketers, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is going to organise an Indian Premier League-(IPL) style women's T20 exhibition match prior to the opening playoff game at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

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Diana Edulji, the member of Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), confirmed ANI that the board wants to give an opportunity to women cricketers to experience IPL-style T20 match.

"It is a really good initiative. We wanted to give our women players opportunity to experience this. It's just that we want to encourage the performance of the Indian team and recognise their performance and help them exhibit their game. In case women's IPL happens in future, then this experience will work for them," Edulji was quoted as saying.

As per reports, 30 players will be part of the two teams. 20 of these players will be Indians while 10 will be overseas players. Just like IPL, there will be four foreign players in each team's playing XI and it is expected to be a dry run for a potential women's IPL in the future.

The match will be broadcast live by StarSports Network and will kick start at 2.30 PM on May 22. This means several top female cricketers who are popular for their T20 exploits are going to showcase their cricketing skills in front of Indian audiences.

Wankhede Stadium will play host to the Qualifier 1 and the Final on May 22 and 27 respectively. The timings of all the playoff games have been changed to 7 PM.