India fast bowler Shikha Pandey said that the Women’s Premier League (WPL) and the introduction of more age-group tournaments have enabled women to take up the sport in the State during a discussion on cricket’s future with former Goa captain Swapnil Asnodkar and Vipul Phadke, president, Goa Cricket Association (GCA).
Shikha, who plays for the State cricket team, hailed the impact of the Goa Women’s Premier League last year but believes much remains to be done.
“The Goa Women’s Premier League last year was one of its kind. Before that, 2016 was the last time we played a tournament of that sort. When you have a cricketer from Goa who is consistently in the national set-up, be it an NCA camp, or Under-23 or Emerging India camp, you gather a lot of information and standards that are to be set. The player I am today is because of the summer camps we had under Nitin [Vernekar] sir. Purnima Rao, a former India cricketer, would take our summer camps. The learnings from summer camps were huge. That set the tone for players to develop.
