BCCI is organizing the most awaited first edition of Women IPL 2023 in march. The occurrence of the T20 tournament of the Women’s Indian Premier League will set into a big reality just before IPL 2023 schedule for men. Now in a time when women’s cricket is struggling in Asia to get its part in world sports. There must come someone out of the blue to reverse its downfall. And there is no better thing to happen other than to be played in this region by women.
Former BBCI chairman Sourav Ganguly has already given the green signal in his tenure for the full-fledged women IPL 2023. Now the new chairman of the BCCI has started his part of the work to finalize the first-ever women IPL in 2023 to happen just before the men’s IPL this year.
Why does Women IPL 2023 Matter
Decades ago when cricket was struggling to attract an audience and had no commercial future, there came the Indian men’s league to survive this beautiful sport. The BCCI hopes that the women IPL 2023 tournament also will be a commercial success. With sell-out crowds and an increase in the number of globally recognized female cricketers.
BCCI hopes the Women’s T20 league matches will have global value in sports just like the IPL, which has contributions from every corner of the world. As a result, an improved spectacle of women’s cricket will be created. Hence, the league should entice additional sponsors and broadcasters to become involved in women’s cricket around the world.
Initial Planning for women IPL 2023
After the progression of the Men’s IPL. The BCCI was designed to consolidate 6- teams of WIPL which are then extended to bring vast change to women’s cricket just like men’s IPL. Women IPL was stated to start in 2018. But due to a lack of resources and audience interest, it didn’t get successful in 2018.
The franchises of ten Men’s teams will first get the right to buy WIPL. At least five franchises showed interest to engage in it. The general meeting integrated by BCCI assured that WIPL will be held between 5 major teams. And the estimated 22 matches, Pune will be the finalized avenue for the respected championship.
Women IPL Auction and bidding process
The news regarding teams to be bought by some of the men IPL franchises are circulating in the cricket industry. It’s been declared that there would be 5 teams in women’s IPL 2023. And some of them would be bought by men’s IPL franchises as 4 franchises have shown interest. However, the franchises are not unveiled yet.
According to BCCI, the plan for the women’s IPL auction process includes the 10 teams of Men’s IPL. IPL teams will be compensated with the chance and can go with making bidding to buy a Women’s IPL franchise. The top five bids will get the WIPL team for the first three initial years. Tata group will be the title sponsor for IPL 2023 season.
Four franchises had already made a bid, and the rights for the remaining franchises will be available in the open market. BCCI hopes the Women’s T20 league matches will have global value in sports just like the men’s IPL. BCCI hopes WIPL will have contributions from every corner of the world and sets the account of events and experiences in women’s cricket.
WIPL 2023 auction and foreign cricketers
Here is the list of overseas female cricketers that are most likely to appear in this women’s IPL 2023;
Names of overseas players :
1- Alana King ( Australia)
2- Deandra Dottin ( West Indies)
3- Sophie Ecclestone ( England)
4- Sune Luusn ( South Africa)
5- Sophia Dunkley ( England)
6- Sharmin Akhter (Bangladesh)
7- Salma Khatun ( Bangladesh)
8- Hayley Matthews ( West Indies)
9- Ayabonga Khaka ( South Africa)
10- Laura Wolvaardt (South Africa)
11- Kate Cross ( England)
12- Natthakan Chantam ( Thailand)
13- Ellyse Perry ( Australia)
14- Meghann Lanning ( Australia)
15- Issy Wong ( England)
16- Shabika Gajnabi ( West Indies)
17- Amelia Kerr ( New Zealand)
18- Tayla Vlaeminck ( Australia)
19- Sarah Glenn ( England)
20- Nadine de Klerk ( South Africa)
21- Georgia Wareham ( Australia)
22- Sheneta Grimmond (West Indies)
23- Murshida Khatun ( Bangladesh)
24- Phoebe Litchfield ( Australia)
25- Kavisha Dilhari (Sri Lanka)
How Women IPL Can Spearhead change in Women’s Cricket
The recent performances of the women’s cricketers are definitely laudable while playing for their respective countries. Unlikely Australian and England female cricketers the challenges for women’s cricket badly need to be addressed. Except for a few privileged countries where women play an equal number of matches as men, women’s cricket team and cricketers needs more exposure.
Now that women’s cricket has everyone’s attention, it would be the ideal time to launch the Women’s IPL. This was a very challenging task for the BCCI to accomplish the dream of Women’s IPL. Although there are uncountable benefits to women’s cricket, players, and the nation. We would shed light on a few of them to get an idea of how valuable women’s IPL is.
World wide scope
WIPL increases the chances of women’s interest in cricket worldwide. It benefices globally for the evaluation and development of cricket and further all sports will get affected by this project. In today’s reality, the IPL has gained a superior position worldwide in the industry of cricket sport. Hopefully, the Women’s League of IPL will also attain big applause for the acquirement of its success.
Financial Empowerment for female cricketers
The Women’s IPL would be a welcome move all over the world. Financial empowerment for every woman is as necessary as three times meal a day. After the success of this league, all the women out there will feel the need for independence and equality. Also, they get their own space and worldwide recognition. The gender differences in society might come to the end. In addition, the female players will get motivated and engage themselves in the learning and earning processes to bring up their dreams into reality.
Encouragement
The Women’s teams do not have much exposure indeed but they do perform in a brilliant way. The people’s support for this product has improved unfailingly over the campaign of the world cup. It is the time for the girls to depict the power of their existence that has been majorly dominated by men. The girls will prove that it is not a men’s game now, it shows the comprehensive philosophy of women’s empowerment.
International like Experience
The difference between local and league cricket is vast. League cricket is more like international cricket as it provides all the facilities a global player gets.
Out of all the welfares players get, they are furnished under finer coaches and mentors to get their techniques and skills better. High-class gyms and training with changes in diet are provided to enhance their performance. They experience pressure with huge no of crowds which makes sure they learn pressure-handling ability before they get a chance to represent their national team.
Domestic infrastructure
The WIPL league will enable a better domestic circuit for women’s cricket. Cricket at the international level as WIPL would be will make sure they prepare improved pitches, facilitate the management, great grounds, discover and nurture talent, all this and more at the local level. This is will work automatically for the development and prosperity of Indian women’s cricket.
Opportunity
At times when the country was facing unemployment at its peak, providing opportunities for the sport is a great step towards ease and welfare. Hundreds of players will get better monetary value from what they love and do. This will not only make difference in their performances but will also drive more talent toward cricket.
Thrifty opportunities
Women’s IPL will achieve thrifty opportunities after this dream. The collaboration of the public, as well as the media will, expands to a high rate as a result of recompense. More often, girls will get domestic importance and value in society. Men are always in a competitive position but this time women will also get the same honorable and respectable standpoint all over the world. More opportunities may lead to the desirable scope for cricket among men, women, and on a foreign basis too. Women’s IPL will bring many youngsters to the television to show their multi-talented traits which will boost their confidence and fosters physical strength.
The revenue stream for retired female cricketers
WIPL in a broad concept is a freelance way in which many other players can participate in this long-awaited campaign to practice their everyday skills. With women’ IPL expanding, there are numerous opportunities for retired female cricketers to work as coaches, mentors, or commentators. The five IPL teams will hire up to 100 former players as coaches, advisers, and ambassadors. With most jobs paying a crore rupees or more.
An Overview of Women IPL 2023 schedule
Schedule for the women’s IPL 2023: The women’s IPL is likely to start in March or April, right before the men’s IPL 2023.
The commencement date for WIPL 2023 has been set by BCCI to be March 3. The women’s IPL competition is likely to start just seven days after the South Africa-hosted Women’s T20 World Cup 2023. The IPL Governing Council has approved the start date even though BCCI has not formally declared the dates. The commencement date will be made public once the BCCI confirms the availability of foreign players.
5 teams with around 20-25 matches to be played between them is a boost for the league to be an entertaining one. Each team will have 4 foreign players and this way the league will get worldwide interest and coverage. Domestic players’ interaction with foreign players will ensure learning opportunities. They would get international exposure and a lot to learn for their growth.
WIPL TEAM Format
The squad will allow eighteen players for every team. There, 12 players will be in blue and the remaining six players will be overseas. Now how they will take out the 11 players, what is the composition to select 11 from 18? They will select 6 Indian players, 1 player will be from an associate- country, and the other four foreign players will be from a member nation. We can also use the sketch of 7 Indians and 3 foreign players. The possibilities are endless but the format is the same i.e. 6+1+4 in which variation is possible with one’s own choice.
Venue Distribution for Women IPL 2023
Now, what is the revenue for WIPLS? As we know the “ No Home And Away Format Of MIPL”. The WIPL is not sharing the same format but a caravan style follows the perspective of their matches. The first half of the first season with be played at one venue and the other half of the first season will be played at the next venue. In the IPL 2024 season, the ten matches each will be played across two venues. And for the IPL 2025 season, ten matches in the remaining venue, and the other half of 2025 will show their performance in one of the stadiums from the previous women IPL 2023 season.
Division on the Basis of Zone
BCCI suggested plane venues for women IPL on the basis of zones and cities. The first option verifies the specific zones and cities, north, south, east, west, northeast, and central.
The teams playing for this expensive and most wanted league are Dharamsala / Jammu from the North zone, on the other hand, Pune And Rajkot will be finalized for the West zone, while Indore/ Nagpur / Raipur will bid for the Central zone. Ranchi and Cuttack will up to for East zone, Kochi and Visakhapatnam have been selected from the South zonal, and the last team Guwahati has been shortlisted from the North-East zone.
BCCI has decided the locations of every zone and now if the franchises want to choose Northwest then they will be rewarded with the option of one venue. So that every franchise of women IPL can select the ground position of their own choice.
Division on the Basis of Cities
The other option from BCCI is the possibility of major cities in reference to Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, and Ahmedabad. So the locale will be selected from these major cities.
Reason Why Women’s IPL Delayed
Women’s IPL was planned to come into progress in 2018 but till now it doesn’t come into the frame of cricket. Do you want to know the reason for its failure in 2018? If Yes, then scroll to the next paragraph.
Lack of interest in women’s cricket
It was not a sagacious decision of putting up the initial step to establish women’s IPL in 2018 because of the lack of interest of people towards the Women’s cricket team. People have limited knowledge of women’s matches, the cricket fans did not embrace this idea the way it was expected. Due to unpopularity, it doesn’t have higher scope in International places manifested as the matches. This format was also exclusive which threatened the Indian Cricket Board with the loss of visitors to this concept. This reason evaluates that since 2018 the BCCI is witnessed growth in popularity and fame.
Lack of Female Cricketers
Here we are another very devastating reason for its disapproval. BCCI suffered a lack of domestic players as well as brilliant cricketers from India. BCCI is the supermodel to entertain people with the best of the pitches and hard hitters. Here the female players won’t have much exposure to scoring high to get appreciated results and entertain people. So they invested their time to find skilled cricketers before establishing this new event. Also, the loss of interest in women towards cricket resulted in the dropping of the idea before the cultivation of Women’s interest. BCCI hopes the first edition of the inaugural women’s IPL 2023 will produce enough female cricketers to prepare worldwide leagues for women.
Limited T20 Franchises
Due to unawareness, the franchises at that time refused to own the WIPL. The repercussions of limited franchises lead to the failure of the inaugural edition of WIPL. But now it is observed that franchise companies and owners are looking to own the WIPL franchises.
Covid 19
It is known that the world has effected drastically after the heavy waves and perpetual lockdowns of Covid 2019-2021. It was not a favorable situation, to begin with, WIPL at that time as all the physical businesses and physical activities stagnated. There was no generativity shown in the picture. Hence the resistance to this idea would seem to be more appropriate at the time of this demonstrating pandemic with the fear of devaluation of this Women’s League T-20 challenge.
Final Words
Given the growing popularity of women’s cricket in India. It also appears that the timing is appropriate for a new chapter in women’s cricket women’s IPL. The women’s IPL ought to draw in more viewers. The overall demands of viewership of Women’s IPL are defined statistically. The Women’s T20 challenge 2020 logged 5,340,000, 000 minutes in viewership. It has increased to a massive rate; by contrast, the 2019 season had only 2,200,000,000 minutes.
