India’s newly-elected cricket chief Anurag Thakur has laid out an action plan for the women’s team to attain world-beating status alongside their male counterparts in the next four years.
While the Indian men’s team is rated among the top sides in the world,
its women’s counterpart continues to lag behind.
“I have set a target for the women’s team that by 2020 they should be No. 1 in the world,” Thakur, who was elected president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) last month, told ESPN Cricinfo in an interview.
The Mithali Raj-led Indian women’s team is currently ranked fourth in the world, behind dominating sides Australia, England and New Zealand. Hosts India recently failed to make the semi-final cut in this year’s World Twenty20 women’s edition, which was won by the West Indies in Kolkata.
The BCCI also said it would allow female cricketers to play in Twenty20 tournaments like the Women’s Big Bash League in Australia, giving them the chance to get familiar with overseas conditions. According to the women’s cricket committee, which met in Mumbai on Wednesday, players will be permitted to participate in the overseas leagues subject to contracts being offered through the BCCI.
Meanwhile, the Indian men’s team will begin a seven-week tour of the West Indies starting on July 6 with four Tests and two practice matches, the cricket boards of both countries confirmed yesterday.
The tour will get underway with a two-day practice match from July 9 in St Kitts followed by a three-day warm-up match from July 14 at the same venue. The four Tests will be played in Antigua and Barbuda, Jamaica, St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago.
The first Test will begin from July 21, the second from July 30, the third
from August 9 and the last one from August 18.
West Indies Cricket Board head of operations Roland Holder said all four venues “are ready to host the visiting Indian team”. India’s cricket board last month announced the resumption of bilateral cricketing ties, arising from the West Indies withdrawal from an India tour mid-way in October 2014.
India’s board dropped a $42 million damages claim against the West Indies in April over the abandoned tour after the team agreed to return to play in India next year.
The last time the Indian team toured the West Indies was in June 2011 for a three-Test series, which India won 1-0.