The International Cricket Council is strongly considering unbundling the rights for women’s global tournaments to capitalise on growing interest in the women’s game, highlighted in the recent Twenty20 World Cup.

The rights to women’s events have previously been sold as part of the package for men’s events. But after the success of the recent T20 World Cup, which culminated in 86,000 attending Australia’s win over India in the final last month, the ICC now believe that the women’s game may be best-served by unbundling the global rights for the 2023-31 cycle. Doing this is viewed as a significant stage in the evolution of women’s cricket.

“All of our data points over the last three years have shown us that fans are interested in women’s cricket. Our global market research shows that 70 per cent of our one billion plus fans want to see more women’s cricket,” Manu Sawhney, the chief executive of the ICC, told Telegraph Sport.

“There is an audience for women’s cricket out there and rights holders along with broadcasters and brands are starting to realise that. There is a clear opportunity here for the sport and we are currently exploring various options to optimise value generation including the unbundling of women’s rights.”

The men’s and women’s editions of the T20 World Cup used to be played concurrently, but since 2018 the two events have been uncoupled, reflecting a view that the women’s game is now best-served by operating stand-alone global events. There are currently planned to be eight women’s global events in the 2023-31 cycle - the same number as men’s competitions. On the ICC’s digital channels alone, there were 1.1 billion total video views for the T20 World Cup, 10 times more than the previous record for any women’s event.