BCCI to Boost Women’s Test Cricket and Launch Domestic Multi-Day Tournaments

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) plans to increase the number of Test matches for women and bring in more multi-day games at the domestic level, secretary Devajit Saikia said on Friday.

After India’s remarkable semi-final win over Australia in the ICC Women’s World Cup 2025, Saikia praised Harmanpreet Kaur and her team for their record chase. He also said that the growing love for women’s cricket in India is clear from the number of young fans wearing jerseys with names like “Mandhana” and “Harmanpreet.”

BCCI aims to boost women’s Test cricket and multi-day tournaments

When asked if the BCCI will add more Test matches for women in the next Future Tours Programme (FTP), Saikia said he was hopeful.

“Basically, women are playing more white-ball cricket, T20Is and ODIs. About three years back, India restarted playing multi-day (Test) cricket against Australia, New Zealand, and England. When Jay Shah was BCCI secretary, he took a special initiative to promote women’s Test cricket. So now we are playing Test matches again,” Saikia told PTI in an interview.

However, he admitted that domestic cricket still mostly focuses on the shorter formats.

“At the senior level, we must have more multi-day tournaments. That’s one area where we have to work. All our domestic events are mainly T20 or 50-over matches. Maybe we’ll have to introduce some tournaments similar to the Ranji Trophy for men,” he added.

“We’re already playing Tests against England and Australia, but we must find ways to include multi-day matches in all bilateral series,” he said.

This new effort shows that the BCCI is paying more attention to women’s red-ball cricket. It could help build a stronger group of players and spread the game more widely across all levels.