WIPL: BCCI likely to unveil names of franchises on January 25

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is likely to unveil the names of five Women's Indian Premier League (WIPL) franchises on January 25. The BCCI also shortlisted the ten cities from where the five franchises can operate in the inaugural season, which will be held in March 2023.

On January 3, the BCCI released the Invitation to Tender (ITT) to own and operate the five franchises in WIPL. According to the ITT document, the bidders can contest for more than one city but can win a bid for only one franchise. 

According to a report from ESPNcricinfo, the BCCI will open the financial bids submitted in sealed envelopes on January 25 but the board has clarified that they are not obliged to accept the highest monetary offer. Instead, they will consider offers from the bidders who are willing to work towards the growth of women's cricket in India.

Ten cities for the bidders:

The BCCI also shortlisted the pool of ten cities and the respective venues from where the teams can operate. The list contains Mumbai (Wankhede / DY Patil / Brabourne Stadiums), Delhi (Arun Jaitley stadium, 55,000), Ahmedabad (Narendra Modi stadium, capacity 112,560), Kolkata (Eden Gardens, 65,000), Chennai (MA Chidambaram stadium, 50,000), Bangalore (M Chinnaswamy stadium, 42,000), Lucknow (AB Vajpayee Ekana cricket stadium, 48,800), Dharamsala (HPCA stadium, 20,900), Guwahati (Barsapara Stadium, 38,650), and Indore (Holkar stadium, 26,900).

Apart from Dharamsala, Guwahati, and Indore, the remaining seven cities already host IPL franchises. Mumbai has been granted its three venues for the bidders, and the BCCI said that one of the venues will be utilized for the WIPL matches based on availability and other factors.

However, the BCCI, in its annual general body meeting last year, said that they will pick one city from each of the six domestic zones and will schedule the tournament in six cities without home bases for the franchises.

WIPL format for the first three seasons:

The inaugural WIPL will have a total of 22 matches each for the first three seasons as each team will play other team twice in a double round-robin format, making it 20 games. The team topping the league table will directly progress to the final, while the teams finishing in second and third will play Eliminator clash to decide the second finalist.

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