The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is likely to hold the player’s auction for the inaugural women’s premier league (WPL) on either February 11 in Delhi or February 13 in Mumbai, according to a report in ESPN Cricinfo. The report also claims that BCCI wanted to hold the auctions on Feb 6 but had to abandon it as some of the owners of WPL franchise will be busy in the knockout stages of ILT20 and SA 20 as they own teams in the above-mentioned T20 tournaments.
The owners of three IPL teams – Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals – along with Adani Group and Capri Global – secured the five WPL franchises, paying a total of INR 4669.99 crore (USD 572.78 million approx) in what is the biggest deal in women’s cricket.
Four of the five WPL franchises own teams in the ILT20: MI Emirates, Dubai Capitals, Gulf Giants (Adani), and Sharjah Warriors (Capri). The owners of Mumbai and Capitals operate teams in the SA20 as well: MI Cape Town and Pretoria Capitals.
Moreover, WPL franchise are yet to appoint the coaching staffs who are expected to play a key role in picking up players during the auction. Accordingly, it is understood that the franchises collectively requested the BCCI to postpone the auction from February 6 to a later date.
Meanwhile, the first ever edition of the WPL is expected to take place in Mumbai for which two venues are already finalised. Wankhede and Brabourne Stadium. One reason behind the move is since the tournament is starting on the heels of Women’s T20 World Cup, which ends on Feb 26, players will have to travel less.
Stars from all around the globe are expected to put their name up for the player auction alongside Indian cricketers including Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Renuka Thakur among others.
BCCI secretary Jay Shah on Wednesday revealed that the bidding for the women’s team for WPL broke the record of inaugural Men’s IPL in 2008.
“Today is a historic day in cricket as the bidding for teams of inaugural #WPL broke the records of the inaugural Men’s IPL in 2008! Congratulations to the winners as we garnered Rs.4669.99 Cr in total bid. This marks the beginning of a revolution in women’s cricket and paves the way for a transformative journey ahead not only for our women cricketers but for the entire sports fraternity,” Shah tweeted.
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