India women’s star Veda Krishnamurthy hopes the BCCI can launch a women’s IPL by 2020 – a tournament that she believes will grow the game even further in the country.

The popularity of the women’s game in India is gradually increasing with last year’s World Cup performances in England before they were beaten by the hosts, having a major impact on the number of girls taking up the game.

The BCCI launched their inaugural Women’s T20 Challenge in May, ahead of the IPL Qualifier 1 clash between Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad, which saw the likes of Krishnamurthy, several of her Indian team-mates and New Zealand and Australia women internationals take to the field at the Wankhede Stadium.

It was the closest thing to the IPL that Krishnamurthy and her fellow players have been involved in on home soil.

And the 25-year-old believes the BCCI must put all their resources together and follow Australia and England in launching their own T20 tournaments, with a domestic T20 league an obvious option to generate interest.

“The BCCI have been doing a lot of things from the time we have come under their wings and there has been a drastic change every year,” she told Sport360.

“We definitely know we have to do something really big for people to come and watch cricket. That was an important agenda when we went to the World Cup and after the tournament, we were glad that girls wanted to watch the game.

“The BCCI have taken it to the next level with the contracts and increasing the fees. I think the next step that the BCCI can do for us is to launch the women’s IPL by 2019 or 2020. If that starts, then it will be the biggest league in the world – bigger than the Big Bash and KIA Super League.”