Before the first game of the Women’s T20 League, the Indian Cricket Board directed that the boundary restrictions be reduced by five metres from the 20-20 World Cup last month to a maximum of 60 metres. The decision was made to provide spectators with more high-scoring competitions and entertainment.
Despite this, boundaries were pushed in as close as 42-44 metres at both tournament venues, the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai and the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, with several batters taking advantage of the situation.
The two captains, Harmanpreet Kaur and Meg Lanning participated in a press conference ahead of the first-ever WTL Final and answered several questions, one of which was about the shorter boundaries for the women’s game. Harmanpreet burst out laughing as she responded to the question.
“Hum logo ne thodi na rope lagaya hai. Jinhone rope lagaya hai aap unko poocho na. (We did not put the boundary ropes in place. You can ask whoever has done that). It is not in our hands no? It is in the hands of the officials. You can talk to them,” she said savagely.
The summit clash between Mumbai and Meg Lanning’s Delhi will take place on Sunday, March 26 at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Delhi, like Mumbai, finished the season with 12 points, winning six games and losing only two. However, a higher NRR helped them qualify directly for the final.
The domestic players are going to get a lot of opportunities: Harmanpreet Kaur
In terms of the tournament’s significance in India, Kaur drew parallels between the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) and the WTL. “WBBL played a big role in the development of cricket in their country and WPL is also going to have the same role for our cricket. The domestic players are going to get a lot of opportunities, many girls have done well as we have seen. We will start seeing the results in 2-3 years. I am confident that Indian talent is also going to do well like Australia are doing,” she said.
