Reports | BCCI to introduce five-team Womenâs IPL in March next year
As per ESPNCricinfo, the BCCI will introduce the much-anticipated Womenâs IPL in March next year, with five franchises taking on each other for glory. A total of 22 games will be played in the competition, which will begin immediately after the women's T20 World Cup in South Africa on February 26.
According to the latest report filed by ESPNCricinfo, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will host the Women's IPL for the first time in March 2023. There will be a total of five teams in the competition, with each squad having 18 players, including a maximum of six from overseas. Five overseas can be included in a playing XI, with four from Full Member countries and one from an Associate nation.
Teams will play against each other twice (20 matches), and among them, those who finish at the top after the league stage will go straight to the final. The second finalist will be decided via an Eliminator contest between the second and third-placed teams.
"It 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," the BCCI said in its paper on the WIPL, which was sent to the states as part of the wider agenda for the board's annual general meeting scheduled in Mumbai on October 18, reported ESPNCricinfo.
"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."
The BCCI is yet to finalise the window of Women's IPL. However, the report suggested the board might begin the upcoming T20 World Cup in South Africa which will end on February 26 and will run till the Men's IPL begins.