The much talked and awaited Women's IPL is all set to start from March 2023. The tournament will be played between five teams and a one-month window will be allocated to it, a senior BCCI official confirmed to PTI.
The BCCI bigwigs have discussed the issue and a March window has been found for the tournament after the Women's T20 World Cup in South Africa.
"Yes, the WIPL will start in the first week of March and we have earmarked a four-week window for the first year. The T20 World Cup in South Africa is from February 9 to 26 and immediately after that we plan to hold the WIPL," a senior BCCI official privy to the development told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
"As of now, we are going ahead with five teams but it could be six as there is a lot of interest among potential investors. In due course of time, the process of auctioning of teams will be announced," he added.
Both BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah in separate interviews with PTI had earlier confirmed that 2023 is the year when WIPL would start.
A lot of cricket lovers believe that WIPL will bring in a revolution and the standard of women's cricket in India will have a quantum leap.
"I am thrilled at the kind of response we have got from the stakeholders. Multiple existing IPL teams have enquired and expressed serious interest in owning WIPL franchises," Shah had said in an interview with PTI some time back.
Before that, Ganguly had also expressed his confidence about the start of the WIPL in 2023.
"I strongly believe that next year i.e. 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," he had said.
It is understood that teams like Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals, and Chennai Super Kings have all expressed their interest in buying teams. Even UTV big boss Ronnie Screwvala had tweeted that he would be interested in buying a WIPL franchise.
Recently the Indian women's team lost to Australia in a gold medal match at the Commonwealth Games 2022, but their performance won hearts back in the country,
There were a lot of calls to start the women's IPL after the loss as many felt that the tournament would help players thrive under pressure situations.
(Inputs PTI)
