Women’s Indian Premier League 2023 is finally here. With every country’s sight set on the Indian Women’s Premier League, it gathered a lot of attention from the press, especially the foreign press.

Currently, the 100 and Big Bash League are the only platforms for franchise cricket in the women’s T20 league. What the Indian Women’s Premier League can do for women’s cricket is just difficult to fathom.

WPL is here and BCCI has announced the names of the Five Franchises for the inaugural Women’s Premier League to take over the world of Women’s cricket in the biggest-ever carnival of cricket – THE WPL

The inaugural season of the WPL will begin in March and will last for more than two weeks and the plan would be to finish the WPL season before the start of the Indian Premier League (IPL) so that all the venues will be available and ready for the gruelling IPL season. The player auction for WPL will be held in the first week of February, as per the BCCI secretary Jay Shah.

Announced Women’s Indian Premier League (WPL) Teams

Five teams have been finalised and announced for the inaugural season. The most awaited next step in women’s cricket is finally making its debut with every women cricketer voicing their support on its arrival.

Rs 4500+ CR of franchise money is involved. The Adani deal for the first WPL team is more than what Mumbai Indians paid for the first men’s IPL team 15 years back.

The five new franchisees will be burning the midnight oil to prepare their list of desirable probables in their team while the fans of the game will be awaiting the next big announcements in the subject.

The WPL team owners will have an auction Purse of Rs 12 Crores (USD$ 1.47 million appx) each to build their squads of 15-18 players

IPL governing council Arun Singh Dhumal said “With regard to the first season, we are still holding discussions. We first need to finalise the schedule and we’ll see what makes more sense. The Women’s World Cup is going on and we don’t have a big window between that getting finished and the start of the Men’s IPL. So, whatever window would be available, we’ll analyse the logistical challenges and then will take a call on whether it be a multi-city league or a single-city.”

While IPL has a cap of 4 overseas players, BCCI may allow 5 overseas in the WPL.

While these 5 teams announced by BCCI will be the season’s torch-bearers of this season, I am Sure more teams will join in the coming years.

BCCI tested the waters by having a 3-team competition with some foreign players in the past which will hold them in good shape with the full-fledged WPL now.

What Will the WPL Do for Women’s Cricket 

WPL will elevate Indian cricket and will be the catalyst to taking women’s cricket forward. The announcement day of the WPL is truly a red-letter day in the history of Indian Women’s Cricket. In years to come, it will lay the foundation for becoming a true cricket powerhouse in Women’s Cricket.

Women’s Cricket has seen an ascendency in viewership with more than 45000 people pouring in to see an India Australia T20 I in DY Patil Stadium in the recent Australian tour to India. This shows that the craze of cricket is not limited to men’s cricket in India.  Imagine the euphoria it will bring once WPL happens.

Viacom 18 has won media rights for the inaugural women’s IPL for a period of 5 years. Rs. 951 crores were the winning bid. This means every match in WPL carries a price tag of Rs 7 Cr. This is never heard of in women’s sports. This is truly a revolution.

Women’s IPL (WPL) Franchise Bidding – Cities, Players Auction & Squad Size   

BCCI opened the winning bids set to be played in March. Sixteen business houses including the men’s IPL franchise showed interest in buying a team in WPL. A total

of 84 bids were placed and to pick one of the ten cities on offer. The bids were for a period of ten years.

• Adani Sportsline Pvt. Ltd- Ahmedabad- 1289 crores
• Indiawin Sports Pvt. Ltd- Mumbai- 912.99 crores
• Royal Challengers Sports- Bengaluru- 901 crores
• JSW GMR Cricket Pvt. Ltd- Delhi- 810 crores
• Capri Global Holdings Pvt. Ltd- Lucknow- 757 crores

BCCI has confirmed that the WPL will be held immediately after the Women’s Worldcup.

Players Auction & Squad Size in Women’s Indian Premier League

Women’s Indian Premier League 2023 (WPL): The Dates Expected for the Player Auction will be held in New Delhi and the franchises will be ready on the Auction table during the 2^nd week of February, BCCI has yet to confirm the starting date of the tournament and they will need to consider the Women’s world cup and the IPL dates to accommodate the WPL.

Tentative dates for the auction is February 10 /11

The WPL auction was earlier decided to be done in a draft option but talks are now on that the auction should be conducted similar to Men’s IPL and I agree to this:

• Rs 50, Rs 40 and Rs 20 Lacs are the player’s reserved Base Brackets to make the pool of players.
• Un capped Players will be at Rs 10 Lacs and Rs 20 Lacs Bracket
• Team Budget to be at Rs 12 Crores to make up a pool of 15-18 Players from a pool of 150 players
• 5 Foreign players including 1 from an associate nation to be part of the playing 11

While Sceptics will argue if this could have happened a little earlier. But BCCI did play the waiting game and now has a good read on the 100 and Big Bash and be better prepared. It is better to begin Right !!
The real test will be if the games will be competitive.

India came to the limelight only when they were seen playing in the 2017 World Cup finals. This was truly a turnaround in women’s cricket. Even the most sceptical had to stop and had to notice Indian women cricket.