VCA’s 1st One-day meet for women from Apr 20, competition to go up

Nagpur: Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) women’s teams across all age groups have achieved decent success in the last few years. This season, the under-15 junior women’s team raised the bar by finishing runners-up in the inaugural BCCI tournament. Even the senior team played the knockouts. It was one of the best years for VCA as far as women’s cricket was concerned. In order to maintain the performance in the next season, VCA is launching its maiden One-day tournament for women’s from April 20. The inaugural edition will see eight teams and more than 100 players in action. Earlier, there was no official tournament in the VCA calendar for women players. Also, the players pool used to be smaller, each age category had their separate group. There was no platform where players from all age group played together, like it happens in men’s cricket through Dorairajan Trophy and Guzder League. Now, there will be a whopping 100+ players in action in the women’s One-day tournament, which will be played at five grounds in the city. The young girls from Under-15 and Under-19 group will get to play with Disha Kasat, Komal Zanzad, Kanchan Nagwani, Nupur Kohale, Latika Inamdar and other seniors. Each team will have 2-3 players from U-15 and U-19 groups. “This will be a game changer,” said a former women’s coach while talking to the TOI.The development is being widely appreciated by players and former women’s cricket officials. “A tournament with a larger pool of players was missing. With this, the competition will increase and also the performance,” said the coach.All the teams have been formed by VCA. The matches will be of 35 overs each. There will be two groups of four teams each. The matches will begin at 6.30am and are slated to get over by 11.30am. Players from the district are expected to be added in the eight teams. VCA conducted trials in the district recently and it received a good response.Traditionally, the women team’s success has come on the back of experienced coaches and players like Mona Meshram, Disha Kasat, Komal Zanzad, Bharti Fulmali, etc., who were the core group of the team in BCCI tournaments. “The onus has always been on 2-3 key players. This tournament will help unearth more talent. It may not happen suddenly, but it will certainly happen in the next couple of years. This tournament is like the Dorairajan Trophy of men’s, where performance is counted and one could earn a direct entry into the VCA camp,” a former selector told TOI. It is learnt that there will be camps for Under-15, Under-19, Under-23 and senior women’s after the tournament is over.