Cricket
Red Bull Campus Cricket to feature a women’s championship in 2021
The world’s biggest university-level cricket tournament will feature a women’s edition for the first time, starting with a championship in India.
Red Bull Campus Cricket is all set to launch a women’s championship in India in 2021.
As the biggest university-level cricket tournament in the world, Red Bull Campus Cricket gives players a chance to represent their college team and go all the way to represent their country in the world finals.
The year 2021 will see the first-ever women’s edition of the tournament get under way in India, with the national women’s team opening batter Smriti Mandhana in strong support.
Mandhana said: “I'm very happy that Red Bull Campus Cricket will be conducting a women’s edition next year. It will be a great platform for Indian women who want to play cricket professionally. Many players have gotten selected for their state teams and played for national teams after playing Red Bull Campus Cricket. Players like KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, Manan Vohra, Anukul Roy and others have all played Red Bull Campus Cricket. To have a women’s edition will be a great boost for women’s cricket in India.”
Smriti Mandhana
© Ali Bharmal/Red Bull Content Pool
In the past, Red Bull Campus Cricket has featured incredible Indian talent like KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Manan Vohra, Shardul Thakur, Karun Nair, Shashank Singh, Siddhesh Lad, Himanshu Rana, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Anukul Roy, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ricky Bhui, and others. International stars Aiden Markram, Lungi Ngidi, Niroshan Dickwella and Chirag Suri also played in Red Bull Campus Cricket before going on to represent their respective countries.
The tournament will now be all set to unearth the next star in women’s cricket from 2021.
It will be a great platform for Indian women who want to play cricket professionally
The women’s competition will be held in four zones – north, south, east and west – with the winners of the zonal editions going on to play in the national finals. The winner of the national final will be declared the best women’s college cricket team in India.
A few players participating in the women’s championship will also get an amazing opportunity to interact with Smriti Mandhana.
Smriti Mandhana
© Ali Bharmal / Red Bull Content Pool
Concentration is key as an opener
© Ali Bharmal / Red Bull Content Pool
The perfect pull shot
© Ali Bharmal / Red Bull Content Pool
Inspiring the next generation
© Ali Bharmal / Red Bull Content Pool
About Red Bull Campus Cricket
Red Bull Campus Cricket is an annual international T20 tournament for college cricket teams. It provides a platform for young talent to play on a world stage and make their way into professional cricket without having to give up on college education. The competition was launched in 2012 and is now in its ninth year.
In 2019, Red Bull Campus Cricket was played across 30 cities and featured 352 participating colleges. The tournament was won by DAV College, Chandigarh, who edged out Hindustan College, Chennai, in an exciting low-scoring final to emerge as champions of India.
DAV College, Chandigarh, then went on to represent India at the Red Bull Campus Cricket 2019 World Finals in the UAE where key players like Treykash Bali (199 runs) and Pankaj Sharma (nine wickets) shone on the world stage.
Celebration time for DAV College, Chandigarh
© Ali Bharmal / Red Bull Content Pool
The 2019 edition of the tournament also featured a unique partnership with Rajasthan Royals to hunt for India’s next upcoming cricket stars. A team from the franchise closely monitored and picked key players who were given the opportunity to be a part of the Royals' trials for the next league auctions.
Four participating players at Red Bull Campus Cricket were selected for the trials. They were Sushant Singh from Ranchi, Faizam Alam from Delhi, Manik Sirohi from Delhi and Shahrukh Khan from Chennai. Shahrukh Khan had been awarded Man of the Tournament at the Red Bull Campus Cricket 2019 India Finals and was part of the 2019 league auctions, but went unsold.
Red Bull Campus Cricket 2020 India Finals are currently under way in Lucknow. Jain College (Bengaluru), YBN College (Ranchi), SS Jain Subodh College (Jaipur), DAVV College (Indore), DAV College (Jalandhar), New LJ College (Ahmedabad), Loyala College (Chennai) and SOA University (Bhubaneswar) are participating in the national finals in the hope of becoming India champions. Coaches and players from Rajasthan Royals will also be present at the national finals and will be scouting players for the team’s trials next year.