An upcoming women’s Twenty20 cricket franchise league in India is called the Women’s Premier League (WPL). The Board of Control for Cricket in India owns and runs it (BCCI). Five franchises will compete in the inaugural season, which will be held in March 2023 in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. The WPL is said to as a “revolution” and “game-changer” in the women’s game. It joins a list of women’s leagues that are club-based or franchise-owned, including the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) in Australia and the women’s Hundred in England, two leagues that were among the first.
The Women’s Premier League (WPL) will take place from March 4 to March 24. It will begin six days after the Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa and conclude approximately a week before the commencement of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which is regarded as the world’s most lucrative cricket competition. It has been called a “landmark” event for women’s cricket that the BCCI sold the five franchises making up the future Women’s Premier League for $572 million.
A new cricket franchise competition called the Women’s Premier League (WPL) will start on March 4 and last through March 24 in India. The Indian Premier League (IPL), the largest T20 franchise league in the world, has a women’s equivalent known as the WPL. Five franchises in the WPL, one each in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, and Lucknow, would be sold for £465 million. On February 13th, 2023, a total of 409 cricket players will be auctioned off at the Jio Global Convention Centre in Mumbai. For the first Women’s Premier League Player Auction, 1525 players signed up.
With the five teams, there are a total of 90 slots available, 30 of which are designated for international players. The maximum reserve price is INR 50 lakhs, and 24 players have chosen to be included in the top tier. Only a select number include India’s Under-19 T20 World Cup-winning skipper Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, and Team India Captain Harmanpreet Kaur.
Twenty league games—along with two playoff contests—will be contested in the WPL over the course of 23 days. The games will be played at the Brabourne Stadium and the D.Y. Patil Stadium. At the WPL auction, Delhi Capitals, Gujarat Giants, Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and UP Warriorz signed 87 players, of which 30 were international cricketers. According to critics, the WPL is a bold initiative that has the potential to revolutionize women’s cricket in India in comparison to trend-setters Australia and England. Although it would take some time for the WPL to fully take off, one has the suspicion that India’s formidable governing body will use every effort to ensure its financial success. Above all, young girls can now hope to play in a profitable competition, which may encourage more females to play cricket across India.
Women’s Premier League Teams
The Delhi Capitals, Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, UP Warriorz, and Gujarat Giants (located in Ahmedabad) are the five teams that make up the Women’s Premier League (based in Lucknow). 87 players in all were acquired by the league during the first auction. To create a WPL 2023 roster of 15 to 18 players, including a maximum of six overseas cricketers, each side was given a budget of INR 12 crore. Prior to the first season, some elite cricketers have already secured $400,000 contracts. Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Ashleigh Gardner, and Natalie Sciver-Brunt all received significant contracts at the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2023 auction, which took place in Mumbai on February 7.
READ MORE: WIPL 2023
