After paving the way to a world-class T20 tournament in the form of the Women's Premier League (WPL) that brings all the international stars under one roof, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is planning to create a structure for red-ball cricket in the women's circuit in the country.
The apex governing body of the sport in India is going to organise a six-team zonal red-ball tournament in Pune to give women cricketers a taste of the multi-day format.
The much-awaited tournament will feature six teams divided based on zones i.e. North, South, East, West, Central, and North-East.
The tournament is slated to kick-start from March 28 onward and will feature three-day games. North and South Zone will play the semifinals directly.
The winners among the other teams will take up the remaining two spots in the semis. The final will be played on April 9, 10 and 11.
The schedule has been designed specifically keeping the ongoing Women's Premier League in mind. The summit clash of the WPL 2024 tournament will be conducted on March 17 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.
Therefore, there is an 11-day break between both competitions to ensure that the Indian players (both domestic and centrally contracted ones) get enough time to rest and recharge their batteries for the red-ball grind.
WPL 2024 off to a blazing start
The second edition of the Women's Premier League (WPL) is off to a wonderful start. The six-team competition has already witnessed a couple of edge-of-the-seat thrillers and promises to continue in the same vein. Delhi Capitals (DC) are at the top of the standings with four points and have won two out of their three games. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), and Mumbai Indians (MI) have also aggregated four points but are behind DC based on the net run rate (NRR).
