Women’s Premier League WIPL 2023 Schedule: Start Date, Possible Venues, Teams, Format, Where to Watch, Complete Details: On January 25, 2023, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) unveiled the winners of the technical bids for the Women’s Premier League, the term coined by the BCCI for the Women’s IPL, to revolutionize women’s cricket in India. Five franchises were announced to be a part of the inaugural season of the Women’s Premier League.
The Indian cricket board saw a windfall of a staggering INR 4669.9 crores with the sale of five franchises in the Women’s Premier League 2023. Over a dozen business entities, including the seven IPL franchise owners, had participated in the Women’s Premier League team auction, however, only five of them received the franchises.
This article will lead you through the Women’s Premier League 2023 Schedule: Start Date, including the start date, possible venues, teams, format, and where to watch.
Women’s Premier League WIPL Team Auction
The BCCI on 25th January announced the winners of the five franchises in the Women’s Premier League. Adani Sportsline Private Limited, a subsidiary of Adani Group, placed the highest bid in the entire auction. The Adani group splurged a colossal INR 1289 Crores and eventually picked the Ahmedabad-based franchise.
Meanwhile, Indiawin Sports Private Limited, the sports wing of Mukesh Ambani, the owner of the Mumbai Indians, spent INR 912.99 crores to get the Mumbai-based franchise. Meanwhile, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) placed the third highest bid—$901 crores—in the auction and got the rights for the Bangalore-based team.
Delhi Capitals bagged Delhi based franchise by spending 810 Crores while Capri Global Private Limited was awarded Lucknow following its bid of INR 757 Crores.
Interestingly, Bengaluru and Chennai attracted the highest number of bidders (12) followed by Indore (11), Kolkata (9), and Lucknow, Guwahati and Delhi had 8 buyers. Dharmshala and Ahmedabad had six bidders while Mumbai had the least (4).
It is important to note that a business entity was entitled to bid for more than one franchise and if it raised the highest bid, it would get to pick its preferred franchise.
Women’s Premier League WIPL 2023 Start Date and End Date
ESPNcricinfo has reported that the Women’s Premier League 2023 is likely to be played from March 4 to March 24. The inaugural season of the Women’s Premier League will be held in 20 days window.
Interestingly, the WPL 2023 is sandwiched between the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023, which will be held from February 10-26, and Men’s Indian Premier League (IPL).
Women’s Premier League WIPL 2023 Schedule
The BCCI is in the process of preparing the Women’s Premier League 2023 Schedule. It will be updated here as soon as BCCI announce it. Stay Tuned.
WPL 2023 WIPL Format and Matches
The Women’s Premier League 2023 will consist of 22 matches over the course of 20 days. Each of the five teams will play each other twice in the league stage, making it 20 matches in the league stage. Meanwhile, the highest-ranked team in the points table after the league stage will directly qualify for the finals, while the second- and third-ranked teams will fight it out in the eliminator, and we will get the second finalist team.
WIPL Player Auction & Team Purse
The player auction in the Women’s Premier League 2023 will be held in the same fashion as the men’s IPL. The cricketers will be divided into different categories depending on their set base price, which could be either INR 50 lakhs, INR 40 lakhs, or INR 30 lakhs for the capped players. Meanwhile, the base price will be set at INR 20 lakhs for capped players and INR 10 lakhs for uncapped players.
Each of the five franchises will have a purse value of INR 12 crore.
Team Composition and Overseas Players in WIPL 2023
A WPL squad can have a maximum of 18 players, while the minimum limit is set at 15. Talking about the playing 11, a team is likely to field as many as 5 overseas players, of which one has to be from an associate nation. The official confirmation from the BCCI on the WIPL team composition is yet to be made.
Women’s Premier League 2023 Venue
Considering the logistics issue the Indian cricket board is likely to host all the matches of the inaugural season of the Women’s Premier League in just one city. Mumbai’s three stadiums – Wankhede Stadium, DY Patil Stadium and Brabourne Stadium are likely to be the venues for WPL 2023.
Where to Watch Women’s Premier League 2023
The media rights of the Women’s Premier League are with Viacom 18. The broadcasting company secured the five-year contract for a whopping INR 951 crores, translating into INR 7.09 crores per game.
The live stream can be accessed on the Jio Cinema application, while Sport18 will telecast the matches.
