Women’s Premier League

The Women’s Premier League (WPL) is a women’s Twenty20 cricket franchise league in India. It is owned and operated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).The first season is being played in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, with five franchises taking part.

History

The first major women’s Twenty20 competition in India was the Women’s T20 Challenge. This started as a single-match tournament in 2018, and was expanded to a three-team, three-match competition held in 2019, 2020 and 2022.In February 2022, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly announced plans to establish a women’s version of the Indian Premier League, the major men’s Twenty20 franchise cricket competition in India, replacing the Women’s T20 Challenge. By August plans were more advanced and in October the BCCI announced that they were considering a five-team tournament which would take place in March 2023. This league was informally known as the Women’s Indian Premier League; on 25 January 2023, however, the BCCI officially named it the Women’s Premier League.On 28 January 2023, the BCCI invited bids for the league’s title sponsorship rights until 2027. Tata Group won the bid for an undisclosed amount.

Organisation

The league structure for the WPL is based on the structure of the IPL.Initially, there will be five teams. The sides will play against each other in a double round robin format, with the three teams finishing with the most points entering the playoff stages of the competition. The Board plans to increase the number of matches and franchises in future seasons if the league is a success.The first season of the league is taking place from 4 March to 26 March 2023, and featuring 22 matches, all held at Brabourne Stadium and DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai. In each match a team may include maximum of five overseas players, one of whom must be from an ICC Associate NationTickets for matches are free to women during the first season. The league’s mascot, Shakti, is a tigress wearing a sky blue cricket uniform.In the matches, each innings will have two strategic timeout of 5 minutes. A new rule has also been introduced for the first time in a T20 league, allowing both sides to review wide and no ball decisions to the 3rd umpire. This rule will also be implemented in the IPL from the 2023 season.