Cricket

WIPL: The first season of Women's IPL will start with 5 teams, 20 league matches, and two venues

Ever since the introduction of the Women's T20 League, there was a continuous demand for the entire season of WIPL

Payal Debnath

13 Oct 2022 14:09 IST

New Update

Ever since the introduction of the Women's T20 League, there was a continuous demand for the entire season of WIPL. The BCCI had told that the road map for the Women's IPL is completely ready and it can start from March 2023.

Also read: Harmanpreet Kaur won the ICC Women's player of the month award for September

WIPL: The first season of Women's IPL will start with 5 teams, 20 league matches, and two venues | Sportz Point — Image- DNA India

According to Crickbuzz, the first season of the women's IPL is going to start in March next year. Five teams will compete in the first season. A decision is yet to be taken on how to select these teams. The first option with the board is to divide teams by zone - North, South, Central, East, North East, and West. Or they can also divide teams by cities - Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Kolkata like the men's IPL.

BCCI is considering a proposal to have 5 overseas players in the starting XI - 4 from Member Nations and 1 from Associate Nation - in the inaugural edition of the Women's IPL, tentatively scheduled for March 2023, reports @aayushputhran.
— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) October 13, 2022

In addition, BCCI will fix only two venues for the five teams. First, all the teams will play matches on one venue and then they will reach the other venue together. So, the inaugural 2023 season could be played at two of the aforementioned venues. The 2024 season at the other two, and 2025 at the remaining one, plus one of the venues from the 2023 season.

Furthermore, five teams will play the 20 league matches. All the teams will play against each other only twice. Whichever team is on top will directly qualify for the final. While the second and third-placed teams will play the eliminator. Here each team will have to choose five foreign players in which four players will be from ICC Full Member Nations and one player will be from Associate Country.

Also read: Highest partnership by Indians in Women's Cricket World Cup

Last year, the BCCI was not looking serious about the WIPL. Board President and former captain Sourav Ganguly had said in an interview that as the pool of women cricketers in the country increases, the board will come up with bigger and more elaborate tournaments. Since then the criticism of the board intensified. Shortly after this, they had decided to start the women's IPL from next year.

T20I Cricket Sourav Ganguly Smriti Mandhana Harmanpreet Kaur Bcci Womens Wipl

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