Aussie women at centre of Cricket Australia-BCCI feud

Australia's Twenty20 World Cup champions have been caught in the middle of a burgeoning feud between Australian and Indian cricket officials.

On Friday the BCCI revealed the three squads that will take part in four women’s exhibition games alongside the IPL finals on May 6-11.

Despite five players taking part in a one-off match last year, there isn’t a single Australian among the 39 players for the 2019 series.

The squads include stars from England, New Zealand and the West Indies.

Ellyse Perry, Alyssa Healy and Meg Lanning were among the Australians expecting to take part after Cricket Australia entered into negotiations with the BCCI.

ESPNcricinfo reports CA chief executive Kevin Roberts cut short his annual leave to discuss the Australian players' participation in person.

But instead of a breakthrough, the BCCI blindsided CA with the decision to leave out the Aussie stars.

The women are collateral damage after a clash over the scheduling of a men's ODI series between the two nations next summer.

The BCCI demanded Australia travel to India in January, leaving CA without home ODIs for the first time in decades – and robbing the Big Bash League of star power.

CA faced pressure from broadcasters Channel 7 and Fox Sports to have the ODIs shifted to a later date.

Avoiding an away series in January would have accommodated more home matches and high-profile players taking part in the BBL.

Sudden disappointment

Cricket Australia's female high performance manager Shawn Flegler indicated last month he expected the governing body would be supportive of Australians taking part in IPL exhibition matches.

Last year's game was hailed as a success by all involved, with players and officials around the world hoping the BCCI will soon launch a standalone women's tournament.

Healy and Lanning indicated they would jump at the chance to return to India this year and play more T20 fixtures alongside the world's best.

"One hundred per cent," Healy said last month.

"It would be fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed that experience.

"It (a domestic tournament in India) probably the next step for the women's game in the T20 format, so if that gets up and running that's really exciting.

"I'm sure a lot of the girls would be willing to stick their hand up for it."

The game in 2018 was played as a curtain-raiser to a men's IPL match but this year's series will feature standalone matches.

with AAP