Women's IPL set to start next year as five-team tournament in March next year

Womens Indian Premier League WIPL is set to start as a fiveteam tournament next year immediately after the conclusion of the ICC Womens T20 World Cup on February 26As per ESPNCricinfo BCCIs proposal plan consists of 22 matches and each squad will feature 18 players with a maximum of six overseas players More than five overseas players cannot feature in a playing XI at the same time with four players from a fullmember nation and one from an associate teamThe plan was sent to state associations on Thursday As per the plan each team will be playing other teams twice in the league phase The table topper after the league stage will go straight to the final An eliminator between second and thirdranked teams from the league stage will be held to decide on the second finalistThough BCCI has not finalised the schedule of the WIPL it will end before the mens IPL The mens IPL is likely to start in March It is also likely that WIPL clashes with the firstever season of Womens Pakistan Super LeagueAlso read Womens Asia Cup Deepti Shafali Verma power allround India to 74run winIt will be a challenge to play the WIPL in the home and away format because with five to six teams it is not possible to have a match every day It is suggested that the tournament can be played in caravan style where after finishing ten matches at one venue the next ten matches to be played at the next venue Therefore ten matches each to be played across two venues in the 2023 WIPL season ten each in the next two venues in the 2024 season and for the 2025 season ten matches in the remaining one venue and the remaining ten in one of the venues from 2023 season said BCCI in the paper on WIPL which it sent to states as part of agenda for boards annual general meeting which will take place on October 18BCCI will be selling five franchises for WIPL Unlike mens IPL in which franchises bid for teams in a particular city BCCI has chalked two plansThe first plan comprises selling teams across six zones all over the country A set of cities in each zone has been shorlisted DharamsalaJammu North zone PuneRajkot West IndoreNagpurRaipur Central RanchiCuttack East KochiVisakhapatnam South and Guwahati NorthEastIn another plan teams will be sold without a solid home base and matches will take place at six shortlisted IPL venues namely Ahmedabad Bengaluru Chennai Delhi Kolkata and MumbaiBCCI will present this plan at AGM next week but the IPL Governing Council chairman who himself will be decided at the AGM will take the final decision along with other officebearers of BCCIWomens cricket has started getting popularity in India ever since the womens team reached the finals of the 2017 ODI World Cup where they lost to EnglandIn 2018 BCCI launched the Womens T20 Challenge which was initially a onematch event But over the years it was extended to three teamsWith the rise in popularity of womens cricket in the country mainly due to prominent performances by the Indian Senior Cricket team on the world stage by qualifying for semifinals in 2018 T20 World Cup finals in 2020 T20 World Cup securing a silver medal in the recently held 2022 Commonwealth games in Birmingham we intend to conduct the Womens IPL on similar lines with the Indian Premier League said BCCI in its paper on WIPLThe growth on the domestic front in womens cricket has been massive with paper stating an overall increase of 111 per cent in participation of players along various categories during eightyear period between 20142022 A further breakdown also listed number increasing to 129 per cent in the senior womens category and 92 per cent in the under19 categoryWIPL will join The Hundred Caribbean Premier League and Womens Big Bash League as T20 leagues that have increased the global popularity of womens cricketThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever