‘If you don’t ask you won’t get’ - Alexandra Hartley insists Royal Challengers Bangalore to buy Women’s IPL team

English cricketer and commentator Alex Hartley took to social media to urge the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to buy a team in the Women’s IPL. Ahead of the inaugural season of the Women’s top-tier league, several big business owners will participate at the auction scheduled to take place on January 25, wherein the five franchises will be officially unveiled for the long-awaited event.

Among the teams that have shown interest and submitted the technical bids are groups that own Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rajasthan Royals, Punjab Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Delhi Capitals. With that, the Lancashire-born cricketer insisted the Bangalore based franchise to ‘get a team’ in the WIPL in one of her recent posts on Twitter. The English cricketer also confirmed her official registration for the WIPL 2023 auction with a picture on the same post.

“Well, if you don’t ask you won’t get… come on @RCBTweets get a team (heart emoji) #PlayBold #WIPL2023,” tweeted Alex Hartley.

WIPL Auction likely to take place in February

The BCCI is yet to make an official announcement on the auction date, however, reports claim the event to take place in the first week of February. INR 12 crore will be the auction purse for the inaugural season wherein each team can buy a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 18 players, including seven overseas players and one player from Associate nations.

No official statement has been let out on the dates of the tournament, though it is likely to be held between March 3 and 26. As all eyes are set on January 25, it remains to be seen which entities among the 17 groups will win the bids for the five teams in the WIPL.