The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) has taken a significant step in promoting women's participation in cricket. The association has announced the launch of the Bengal Pro T20 tournament, which will feature both men's and women's events. In specific, the women's event will showcase India's first full-fledged women's franchise T20 tournament run by an association.
The Bengal Pro T20 tournament will be a 21-day long match held in June this year. The tournament will comprise 8 teams in both men's and women's events. The men's team will consist of 17 players whereas the women's team will have 16 players. The most important requirement is that all the players of both men's and women's teams including the coaches must hail from Bengal. Men's matches will be held at the iconic stadium of Bengal, the Eden Gardens while the women's matches will take place at the popular Jadavpur University ground which is also a regular venue for senior domestic games.
Double headers days have been scheduled every day where women's matches will be organized in the morning and afternoon. Men's matches can be watched in the afternoon and evening. In addition to this, this tournament marks the maiden Indian state association-run tournament that has eight teams which will be owned by eight distinctive franchises. The respective franchises of the teams will be responsible for the salary cap of the players as CAB will not pay any charges. However, the franchises will be revealed later as they are not yet finalized. The Kolkata Knight Riders, Lucknow Super Giants, Bandhan Bank, Shrachi Group, and Rashmi Cement are the estimated franchises that could purchase the teams.
Snehasish Ganguly, President of CAB mentioned that this tournament will provide a platform to the Bengal cricket players where they can showcase their talents on the field. Bengal has potential players but lacks opportunities like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, and this platform like the proposed women's T20 League will boost up their pace. Additionally, the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association also plans to launch a league similar to this, but it is not expected to start this year.
