The inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) is just around the corner with the showpiece reportedly scheduled to hit the on-air button from the 4th to the 26th of March. From the tournament opener to the qualification process, a recent Cricbuzz publication has all you are keen to know.
With the International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s Twenty20 (T20) World Cup scheduled from the 10th to the 26th of February, and the Indian Premier League (IPL) to commence in early April, the only window for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to conduct the WPL was always going to be in March and so it is in the tentative schedule.
With dates and venues finalized, the BCCI is understood of having circulated a tentative schedule to all the authorities which sees the clash between franchises of the two of India’s richest business tycoons, Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani who respectively owns the Mumbai base and Ahmedabad base for the Women’s Premier League.
The Women’s Premier League from March 4, will be staged entirely in Mumbai#CricketTwitter #WomensIPL |Source: Cricbuzz pic.twitter.com/ruHxv4gQMv
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) February 3, 2023
While the season opener will see Mumbai and Ahmedabad clash, the remaining 3 franchise bases, Delhi, Bangalore, and Lucknow will all be in action on the 2nd day of the long-awaited tournament. According to the tentative schedule, Bangalore will play Delhi, and Ahmedabad will take on Lucknow in the 1st double-header fixture on day 2.
The final list of venues for the Women’s Premier League is yet to be made public by the BCCI but reportedly, Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium is learned of hosting the curtain raiser on the 4th of March and the authorities plan of conducting the entire tournament in Mumbai, will surely see games played at the DY Patil Stadium and the CCI-Brabourne Stadium as well.
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The first match in the Women’s Premier League is likely to be played between Team Mumbai and Team Ahmedabad on March 4 (Saturday).
The Final is likely to be played on 26th March#CricketTwitter #WomensIPL Source: Cricbuzz pic.twitter.com/S4ncqLdT63
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) February 3, 2023
For venues, while BCCI’s Mumbai-only decision can be speculated as a tried and tested formula from India’s most recent home series against Australia that was restricted to Mumbai only, and the same three venues hosted games and didn’t fail to impress with the footfall, it’s understood that the reason behind Mumbai-only is to reduce the workload on players.
The 5-team WPL will see the top-seeded team directly qualify for the final while teams seeded 2nd and 3rd will battle it out in a knockout fixture to determine the 2nd finalist. While the Eliminator is understood to be held at the CCI-Brabourne Stadium on the 24th of March, the inaugural edition Final will be held on the 26th of March at the DY Patil Stadium.
(Inputs sourced from Cricbuzz)
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