Isn't it time now for the next innovation in Cricket?

Being a kid of the 1980s to 1990s, I grew up hearing of the innovation in cricket when the one day matches were introduced in the 1970s.

Then came coloured clothing in the Benson & Hedges series down under to day and night matches to stump mikes and cameras to T20s to spider web cams and so much more along with the various controversies from time to time including the infamous exit of Kepler Wessel's South African team from the 1992 semi final thanks to the incomprehensible and irrational Duckworth-Lewis method to the infamous match fixing scandal that came to light in 2000.

Of course the early 1990s kids of the sub-continent can never forget their favourite cricket commentators Henry Blofeld and his obsession with those 'earrings' in the audience to Harsha Bhogle and Tony Greig or the favourite of our umpires Dickie Bird and Billy Bowden to Mark Mascarenhas's introduction of his company Worldtel into cricket celebrity management to being bamboozled to see the Kiwi Captain Martin Crowe opening his team's bowling spell in the 1992 world cup matches down under with his off spinner Dipak Patel.

And then so much more has happened since then.

Now to the present day.

I watched Smriti Mandhana's photo in action in today's Hindustan Times sport page section while she was co-scripting with Mithali Raj, the Indian women's team's series victory over New Zealand.

This comes just on the heels of the Indian men's team's series victory in New Zealand.

And then as I read the ICC's different schedules for the next World T20 championship for men and women, it struck me all of a sudden that while the jury is still to return with a verdict on the future of the T10 version of cricket, it is time that we start thinking of mixed gender teams.

Why do we keep our women cricketers out of the IPL for instance?

Just imagine the initial skepticism and resistance to this idea to the possibilities and outcomes of this idea.

On the side of possibilities, we could have another set of events altogether in the cricketing world - from mixed Tests and ODIs to T20s to World Cups, Under 19s, Champions Trophy to T20 leagues.

There could be regular men's team, women's team and then a mixed team with its own set of combinations and captaincies for tests, ODIs and T20s

Of course it will be interesting to see the sparkling dynamics that will emerge when there would be a decision on the line up as well as on deciding who will be the captain to keeper and what role to assign to whom based on gender and performance.

Of course in the initial few years we will also see our collective conscious as well as unconscious bias around gender, patriarchy, capability, performance and roles raise their ugly heads.

But it will also be quite interesting to see what emerges through all that churning and change.

It can create so many more opportunities, avenues and work for so many more people. The economy would get better with these additional events.

As it is, it's a rarefied field up there where only a select few get to play and represent their countries from the hundreds and thousands of kids who start playing their sweat out to get a spot.

So many get left out and heart broken.

But these mixed matches could open up so many more employment opportunities for sports persons, coaches, associated staff, sports good manufacturers and the ancillary industries like the hospitality and travel sector.

It will have a domino effect on so many things and opportunities of course along with its impact on the environment as with any other entertainment centered sports activity.

As I sat down to write this, I found this photo of Smriti and Virat Kohli rather than the one I saw in the Hindustan Times today.

There was a time when it was taboo for men and women to shake hands like the one you see in the photo here but no one bothers now except in rabid black holes of conservatism and obscurantism.

So if this photo did not raise eyebrows then I am sure that after a couple of seasons, mixed matches will also be just fine.

All my vote for this idea.

Who else is there on this?