The longstanding calls for a full-fledged Women’s IPL seem likely to bear fruit by next year as the BCCI mulls a five or six-team event from 2023.
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly confirmed the development after an IPL governing council meeting on March 25, saying “hopefully” there will be a proper WIPL held from next year onwards. He, however, added that the proposal from the governing council would need approval at BCCI’s Annual General Meeting.
“It [the full-fledged women’s IPL] has to be approved by the AGM. We plan to start it by next year hopefully,”
As per PTI, plans are set in stone for “five or six teams in the inaugural edition” of the WIPL. To make it a high-profile event, the board is looking to gauge interest from the existing men’s Premier League franchises, who have a solid brand name in place for a long time now.
Thus, Ganguly and co will be offering them the first right of refusal. At this stage, it is understood there are multiple franchises interested in buying a team in WIPL, provided they are given adequate details around the competition.
“All the existing ten men’s IPL franchises will be given the first right of refusal to buy the women’s IPL teams. It is learnt that at least four men’s IPL franchises are interested in knowing from the BCCI what is on the table in case they want to invest in the WIPL.”
the report added.
If the tournament follows the IPL format, the six-team league will be played in a double round-robin league stage, followed by playoffs or knock-outs. But perhaps a bigger consideration would be the tournament window.
The last thing the BCCI would want is for the WIPL to overlap with the IPL and lose eyeballs to a more established tournament. A new window in the busy calendar will have to be found. A suggestion could be to look at the Christmas-New Year slot and take the tournament to smaller centres so as to enable maximum crowds.
All these details are expected to be unveiled in the coming months, making it an exciting period for women’s cricket in India, which definitely needs a full-fledged T20 event of its own with the best cricketers in the country rubbing shoulders with the best players from abroad and learning their trade from top-level coaches.
In another positive news, the Women’s T20 Challenge will also make its return this season with a three-team event set to be played alongside the IPL playoffs and the final. IPL governing council chairman Brijesh Patel confirmed the news after the council’s meeting. Patel said the tournament will feature four matches – single round tri-series plus the final – and could be held in Pune.
“Four matches involving three women teams around the time of the men’s IPL playoffs,”
Patel was quoted as saying.
The T20 Challenge event was not held last year after the IPL 2021 was initially suspended in May because of Covid breaches and then rescheduled for conclusion in September-October in UAE. However, the tournament was held in the previous season in the Middle East.
There were calls for the Women’s T20 Challenge to be expanded by one more team in a double round-robin format. But for now, the board wants to continue with the three-team single round version as anyway, it will have to be disbanded by next season when the WIPL kicks off with much anticipation.
