It’s almost time as the Women’s Premier League is here! The long-awaited, Women’s Twenty20 (T20) franchise-based tournament, Women’s Premier League (WPL) is due to get underway on the 4th of March, and the inaugural editions opening ceremony is set to be graced by renowned singers, and Bollywood actresses.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) via the Women’s Premier League Twitter page, communicated the development of “a star-studded line-up at the D.Y. Patil Stadium for an evening of glitz and glamour. A link directing to the ticket bookings too was attached to the Tweet.
The Tweet read, “A star-studded line-up D.Y. Patil Stadium will be set for an evening of glitz and glamour 𝐃𝐨 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬 the opening ceremony of #TATAWPL Grab your tickets now on in.bookmyshow.com”
Kiara Advani to perform at the opening ceremony of the first-ever Women’s Premiere League 2023#WPL2023 Source: PinkVilla pic.twitter.com/yqbgg5K5da
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) February 28, 2023
The Tweet featured, a couple of top Bollywood actresses Kriti Sanon, and Kiara Advani, and singer AP Dhillon as the 3 who’ll be gracing the opening ceremony. There’s no BCCI confirmation on the development, but if reports are to be believed, legendary singer and music composer, Shankar Mahadevan too will be gracing the event and will sing the WPL anthem.
The opening ceremony should last 30 to 45 minutes before the action between the bat and ball gets underway. From what’s understood, Shankar Mahadevan will first energies the audience with the WPL anthem, the dance, and songs then follow which will see Kriti and Kiara dance on numbers.
The 5-team, 22-match tournament has been made free for women and girls, while men and boys, will be required to pay a nominal price of Rs 100 and Rs 400, depending on their seat and stand, as per BookMyShow. For viewers at home, the tournament will be live-streamed on the Jio Cinema app for free and will be televised on the Sports18 Network.
The tournament is set to see all of its 22 games in its inaugural edition played at DY Patil Stadium and CCI-Brabourne Stadium. The opener on the 4th will see Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Giants lock horns, with the remaining 3 teams, Delhi Capitals, UP Warriorz, and Royal Challengers Bangalore, playing on the first doubleheader day, the 5th of March.
The competition 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 Final of the inaugural edition of the WPL will be held on the 26th of March at the DY Patil Stadium.