Women's Test cricket faces T20 heat

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New Delhi: Twenty20 cricket's growing popularity has also taken a toll on the already-struggling women's Test cricket in India and the team has not played a single match since 2006.

This year, only one women's Test match was played, between Australia and England in Worcester last month, compared to 21 games their male counterparts played.

The Indian women's team has only played one-dayers and Twenty20s and the last Test match they played was in 2006 against England in Tauntun, which it won by 5 wickets.

Since then, it has played 39 ODIs and five Twenty20 matches.

Women's cricket representative in BCCI and former captain Shubhangi Kulkarni said preparations for the Women's World Cup, Asia Cup and the Twenty20 World Cup prevented the team from playing Test matches.

"Since 2007, we have concentrated on the preparations for ODIs and T20s as there was long list of tournaments. In March-April 2007, there was a four nation tournament; in March 2009 there was the One-day World Cup and in June same year, the T20 World Cup. In all this, we didn't get the time for Test cricket," Kulkarni said.

Indian middle-order batter Mithali Raj, who has played only eight Test matches in as many years, said more Test cricket should be organised for the betterment of the game.

"If more Test matches are organised, women's cricket will become more progressive," she said.