Reports: Inaugural Women's IPL likely to get underway in March 2023

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah had announced at the start of the 15th edition of the Men’s IPL that the board has been planning to get in place a full-fledged Women’s IPL from next year onwards. After the success of ECB’s The Hundred tournament and CA’s Women’s Big Bash League, the Indian Premier League for Women was long due.

Women cricketers from all over the world had shared their views on BCCI coming up with the Women’s IPL, and had said that it would create a large platform for the sport to grow and develop, thereby providing opportunities to the young cricketers. Despite appeals to establish one over the previous few years, the BCCI has set a date for the new event to begin in 2023, based on feedback from former players as well as other stakeholders.

According to a report in The New Indian Express, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has picked two windows to host a franchise-style T20 league for women, starting in 2023. The BCCI is said to have had talks with stakeholders on the grounds of the IPL playoffs, with March 2023 being considered an appropriate time to host the event. If not, September would most certainly be considered an option, too.

The BCCI recently held the Women’s T20 Challenge, after a gap of one and a half years as the tournament was cancelled in 2021 owing to the Covid-19 crisis. This season witnessed the players give their 100 percent towards the games, and the event garnered attention like never before, at the MCA Stadium in Pune.

The fact that approximately 8,621 people attended the final between Supernovas and Velocity demonstrated how far the game had progressed. Multiple records were broken within just six days, and quite a few new faces emerged in the tournament. The event witnessed the highest total being posted in the history of the WT20 Challenge by the Trailblazers as they went on to score 190 runs in their 20-over slot. Supernovas etched their name in the history books by winning the title for a record third time.

ECB and CA join hands with BCCI for the Women’s IPL

Developments have started taking place since Sourav Ganguly and Jay Shah said that a full-fledged competition will commence next year. Reports also suggested that BCCI has been in talks with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Australia (CA) as they’re expected to urge the International Cricket Council (ICC) to create a distinct window for the league in March 2023. BCCI has reportedly gotten encouraging feedback from other boards over their players’ involvement.

The BCCI is understood to be considering six teams to begin the league, and is pleased by several IPL franchises’ desire. The Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals are said to be interested in purchasing a franchise. The Chennai Super Kings appear to be interested in the league as well, having recently opened a girls academy.