The long wait for the start of the Women’s Indian Premier League (W-IPL) is now finally nearing an end. As reported a few days earlier, the BCCI has reserved a window for the inaugural edition of W-IPL for early next year in March and it also learned that the process to get the show on the road is underway.
After the exhibition matches, the three-team Women’s T20 Challenge got started and recorded excellent viewership. Which saw the soft voices wanting a fully-fledged W-IPL to get louder. BCCI President, Mr Saurav Ganguly early this year said, “We are at the level of formulation to have a full-fledged W-IPL. It is certainly going to happen. I strongly believe that next year (2023) will be a very good time to start a full-fledged women’s IPL which will be as big and grand a success as men’s IPL.”
BCCI secretary, Mr Jay Shah too in May said, “I am thrilled at the kind of response we have got from stakeholders. Multiple existing IPL teams have enquired and expressed serious interest in owning W-IPL franchises,” hinting at the launch of the W-IPL nearing.
One does believe the W-IPL is in readiness and when Smriti Mandhana who’s currently playing in the Hundred was questioned on the same had a brilliant reaction in reply.
A journalist post-game asked Smriti Mandhana, “With the Women’s IPL coming next year, can we expect the same kind of enthusiasm back at home as well?”
Smriti Mandhana’s view on Women’s IPL #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/LVu2ZjwN1c
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) August 14, 2022
Smriti Mandhana just when got a sense of where the question was heading, started to repeatedly nod her head and once the question was completed she replied, “I think whenever we play there is lot of enthusiasm back home irrespective of the format. Indian fans love cricket and they turn up to support us regardless of one-day or T20. So Women’s IPL will be great.”
“The Women’s IPL will be great.”
~ Smriti Mandhana #CricketTwitter #TheHundred pic.twitter.com/kT20oRwXnv
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) August 15, 2022
It’s understood that the BCCI is expected to discuss matters relating to the W-IPL at their upcoming annual general meeting in September and much of the planning around the tournament will be around the sale of media rights. The BCCI’s domestic calendar release for the upcoming season sees the show get underway a month early which is believed to be done to squeeze in the women’s IPL. The domestic season for 2022-23 is all set to get underway on October 11 with the T20 competition and will run till February next year with the inter-zonal one-day competition.
It’s not wrong to say that the wait now among fans for the start of W-IPL is like never before. Murmurs after the 1st edition of the three-team Women’s T20 Challenge turned into soft noises and as the tournament got better as the quality of cricket attracted good numbers fans regularly raised voices demanding the start of the W-IPL at the earliest. The wait among fans for the Women’s Indian Premier League to get underway has been a long-awaited one and so there’s no doubt that when the W-IPL gets up and running next year it’ll grandly be welcomed by viewers from all over the globe.
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