Australia women’s cricketer Alyssa Healy took to Twitter to express her displeasure at BCCI’s decision to hold the Women’s T20 Challenge in early November, given the rescheduled date directly clashes with the 2020/21 WBBL.

On August 2, the BCCI confirmed that a three-team Women’s T20 Challenge will be held during the playoffs stage of IPL 2020, similar to the model followed last year. The 2019 competition consisted of four games, with international players flying in to participate in the tournament that was held from 6-11 May in Jaipur.

The competition will directly coincide with the Women’s BBL, which is set to be held from October 18 to December 8. With the WT20 Challenge expected to be held in the last week of the men’s IPL, from November 3 to November 10, there’s a big question mark on the availability of Indian players in the WBBL as well as the availability of international stars for the T20 Challenge.

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Healy, the Australia wicketkeeper-batter, took to Twitter to express her unhappiness at the announcement and was joined by teammates Jess Jonassen, Rachael Haynes, and New Zealand’s Suzie Bates.

Reacting to journalist Boria Majumdar’s tweet, which initially announced the schedule, Healy said, “So during the WBBL… cool”, before engaging in a long debate with Majumdar, where she questioned the scheduling clash, pointing out that, unlike the IPL, there are separate windows for the BBL and WBBL.

https://twitter.com/SuzieWBates/status/1289870953493626881

https://twitter.com/RachaelHaynes/status/1289864298705989633

“Our tournament is set and prepared,” Healy wrote. “There won’t be any understanding. Fairly sure players will abide by their contractual agreements in Aus. Especially considering it’ll be leading into finals.

“The IPL doesn’t need the marquee players. It’s already large. The women’s format however does. The WBBL and BBL don’t run simultaneously so why does the IPL and WIPL have to?”

However, not everyone was displeased with the update. With the Women’s World Cup set begin in March next year, Majumdar reported that the BCCI would also green light two white-ball series against West Indies and South Africa towards the end of the year.

Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami and Poonam Yadav were among those to laud the BCCI’s decision to focus on women’s cricket ahead of the World Cup.

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IndiaAustralia Alyssa HealyIndian Premier LeagueWomen's CricketMithali Raj