Mumbai: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday announced the winning bids for the Women’s Premier League (WPL).
BCCI secretary Jay Shah took to Twitter to inform that the Board has accepted franchises for five teams in the inaugural season of WPL, with a total bid value of Rs 4,669 crore. The value surpassed the bids from men’s IPL franchises ahead of the first edition in 2008.
“Today is a historic day in cricket as the bidding for teams of the 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 the 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. The #WPL would bring necessary reforms in women’s cricket and would ensure an all-encompassing ecosystem that benefits each and every stakeholder,” Shah tweeted.
The five franchises which will participate in the inaugural WPL are from Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Lucknow.
Adani Group acquired the Ahmedabad franchise through its sports venture Adani Sportsline Pvt Ltd for the highest bid of Rs 1289 crore.
Indiawin Sports Pvt Lt paid Rs 912.99 crore for the Mumbai franchise.
Royal Challengers group, which owns the Bengaluru-based men’s IPL team, also won the bid for the city in women’s edition of the T20 league spending Rs 901 crore.
It was ditto for the Delhi franchise, as the JSW group – which owns Delhi Capitals in IPL — successfully bid for Rs 810 crore.
Capri Global spent Rs 757 crore to acquire the Lucknow franchise.
The maiden WPL edition is likely to be held in early March in Mumbai following a players’ auction next month.
The franchises will have a purse of Rs 12 crore for IPL 2023 auction, to be increased to Rs 13.5 crore in 2024, Rs 15 crore in 2025, Rs 16.5 crore in 2026 and Rs 18 crore in 2027, according to a report in Cricbuzz.
Five overseas players will be allowed in each of the playing XIs.
𝐁𝐂𝐂𝐈 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐛𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧’𝐬 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐞.
The combined bid valuation is INR 4669.99 Cr
A look at the Five franchises with ownership rights for #WPL pic.twitter.com/ryF7W1BvHH
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 25, 2023
