Women’s IPL to start in March 2023 with five teams

According to the plan,there will be a total of 22 matches in the league, with each squad comprising 18 players with a maximum of six from overseas.

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE: BCCI has sent out a proposed plan for the inaugural edition of a five-team Women’s IPL to the state units. | Photo Credit: SPORTZPICS

Five teams will feature in the inaugural edition of the Women’s IPL (WIPL), set to begin in March next year.

Ahead of the Annual General Meeting on October 18, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has sent out a proposed plan for the inaugural edition of the state units, suggesting that there will be a total of 22 matches in the league, with each team comprising 18 players with a maximum of six from overseas.

According to the document accessed by  Sportstar, only five overseas players can feature in a playing XI, with four from Full Member countries and one from an Associate nation.

The format

Each team will play the others twice and the league topper will make it to the final. The second finalist will be decided via an Eliminator contest between the second and third-ranked teams in the league phase. 

According to the document, “Like IPL, it will be a challenge to play in home-away format in WIPL, as with five to six teams it is not possible to have a match every day. It is suggested that tournament can be played in caravan style where after finishing 10 matches at one venue next 10 matches to be played at next venue.” 

Therefore, 10 matches each to be played across two venues in 2023 WIPL season, 10 each in the next two venues in 2024 season and for 2025 season, 10 matches in remaining one venue and remaining 10 in one of the venues from 2023 season. 

But then, how will the teams be sold?

So far, the Board has come up with two options. The first plan is to sell teams across the six zones, especially in Non-IPL centres. A set of cities in each zone has been shortlisted - Dharamsala/Jammu (North zone), Pune/Rajkot (West), Indore/Nagpur/Raipur (Central), Ranchi/Cuttack (East), Kochi/Visakhapatnam (South) and Guwahati (North-East).

According to the second plan, the teams will be sold but without a solid home base, with matches to be played at six shortlisted IPL venues: Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai.

While the duration of the tournament is yet to be finalised, the BCCI will present the plan its AGM next week. However, a final decision will be taken by the IPL Governing Council chairman along with the BCCI office bearers.

In the AGM, a new IPL Governing Council, led by Arun Singh Dhumal will take charge. The other members will be Avishek Dalmiya and a representative from the Indian Cricketers’ Association.