The Women’s Premier League (WPL), also known as the TATA WPL for sponsorship reasons, is an upcoming women’s Twenty20 cricket franchise league in India. The BCCI owns and operates the league;
The first season will take place in March 2023 and feature five franchises.
LEAGUE’S JOURNEY
The Women’s T20 Challenge is a women’s Twenty20 competition held in India. In 2018, the tournament was expanded to include three teams and three matches per team.
In February 2022, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly announced plans to create a women’s version of the Indian Premier League—the major men’s Twenty20 franchise cricket competition in India.
As early as August, plans for a five-team tournament were in the works; in October of that year, officials from the BCCI announced their intention to hold such a tournament sometime during March 2023.
The Women’s Indian Premier League (WIPL) has been rebranded as the Women’s Premier League by its governing body, Cricket Board of Control for India.
On 28 January 2023, the BCCI invited bids for title sponsorship of its league until 2027. Tata Group took home the prize—but no one knows how much they paid to sponsor this prestigious event.
HOW THE LEAGUE WILL PLAY OUT
The WPL league structure is modeled after and somewhat similar to the IPL. The league begins with 5 teams who will play against each other twice in a round-robin format. The team that finishes on top goes directly into the final, while the second and third-ranked teams will play in a semi-final to determine the second finalist. If the league is successful, the Board plans to increase the number of matches and franchises in future seasons.
The inaugural season of the WPL will take place from March 4 to March 26, 2023, and will feature 22 matches held at the Brabourne Stadium and DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai. Teams can include a maximum of 4 overseas players and one ICC Associate Nation team player in their playing XI, provided they have an associate nation player in their squad. Otherwise, only 4 overseas players are allowed.
During the first season, tickets for matches will be free for women. The league’s mascot is a tigress dressed in a sky blue cricket uniform. The opening ceremony of the first season will feature performances by AP Dhillon, Kriti Sanon, and Kiara Advani, and will take place at DY Patil Stadium.
WHO’S PLAYING
The WPL features five franchises named after different areas of India, as shown on the location map. Investors acquired the initial franchise rights through a closed bidding process in January 2023, raising a total of ₹4,669 crore (US$580 million) for a five-year period from 2023 to 2027.
Several companies purchased franchise rights, including Adani Group for the Ahmedabad franchise, Indiawin Sports Pvt Ltd for the Mumbai franchise, GMR–JSW Cricket Pvt Ltd for the Delhi franchise, Capri Global holdings for the Lucknow franchise, and Royal Challengers Sports Pvt Ltd for the Bangalore franchise. The winning bids amounted to ₹1,289 crore (US$160 million), ₹912.99 crore (US$110 million), ₹810 crore (US$100 million), ₹757 crore (US$95 million), and ₹901 crore (US$110 million), respectively.
According to media research firm Ampere Analytics, the WPL is the world’s second-highest valued women’s sports league, trailing only the Women’s National Basketball Association in the United States. Three of the five franchises, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Capitals, and Mumbai Indians, also have teams in the men’s IPL.