Australia women's cricket team captain Meg Lanning has said an Indian Premier League (IPL) for women is an exciting prospect and that she would certainly love to be involved in it.

Stressing that an IPL is the next big thing for women's cricket, Lanning said the response they had received during last year's exhibition match for women at the IPL has got them looking forward to more such matches.

Lanning's comments come days after a Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) official suggested that the apex body of Indian cricket is planning to host more exhibition T20 matches for women this year during the playoffs of the IPL.

Lanning was part of the one-off match that was played between Supernovas and Trailblazers at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai last year. The T20 match had a 2pm start and failed to attract a lot of fans to the stadium. Nonetheless, the tie featured several women's cricket stars like Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Lanning, Ellyse Perry and Suzie Bates and went down to the wire.

"It was a lot of fun. We only, obviously, played the one game last time. I am not too sure what the set up would be this time if there was one but, from the response we got last time, everyone is keen to do it," Lanning told The Sydney Morning Herald.

"I would certainly love to be involved in something like that. The next big step for women's cricket is if an IPL could get up - it's certainly an exciting prospect."

Unlike last year, there may be more than two teams for the series of women's exhibition matches. On the other hand, the BCCI is also looking at hosting a best-of-three series with just two teams in the fray. Moreover, the matches are being scheduled to be held at 7 pm to grab "maximum eyeballs".

"We are waiting for the Election Commission of India to announce the full schedule of the general elections and once that happens, we will finalise the schedule for the women's games. A 7 PM start on days when the IPL games are not held makes more sense than staging them in the afternoon when not many people are likely to turn up again," the BCCI official said.

"Logistically and even considering the players' pool we have, the best of three games between two teams seem a lot more doable than forming three teams. The quality of the competition can't be compromised and that is one of the reasons why a women's IPL can't be organised at the moment," the official added.

Also See: