Five teams from Goa will be participating in the first Goa Women’s Cricket League (GWCL) to be organised by Vinayak Decorators and recognized by Goa Cricket Association (GCA) from April 1 to 9, 2023.
Geno Dragons, Manas Panjim Gymkhana, MCC Estilo Legends, Celeste Superwomens and Venture XI are the five teams that will be participating in the league.
“GCA has provided the organisers with a pool of 147 players from Goa, the auction for which is being held by the organisers today. Each team is allowed to have three outstation players. GCA will be providing the infrastructure,” stated GCA Secretary Rohan Gauns Dessai during a press briefing to announce the tournament.
“The five teams will play twelve matches in the round-robin format followed by the finals. The matches will be held in day and night format and this will give our girls an opportunity to play under floodlights for the first time, so that they are ready for the future considering women's IPL is organised by BCCI. We are providing a stepping stone,” disclosed Dessai.
“The winners will win Rs two lakh and the runners-up will take away Rs one lakh. Plus, there will be man of the match award for each game,” added Dessai while emphasizing that GCA is following the BCCI agenda of empowering women through cricket.
“The idea behind pushing forward this league is to give our sisters an opportunity to play. There is hardly any competition for women in Goa. Shikha Pandey is Goa’s sole voice at the international level. I want to see many more Goan girls at the international level,” stated Dessai.
“Thirty-three school teams participated in the U-19 ladies' cricket tournament this year and the girls selected for this tournament are those who participated in this tournament,” disclosed Dessai. “ The pool of 147 has been shortlisted by our ICA member Dezi Dsouza and Sarvesh Naik , Director for cricket of women’s coaching.