WIPL 2023: The inaugural edition of the Women’s IPL will not involve a player auction, unlike the men’s competition. The auction has been a staple for the IPL since its inauguration but the WIPL would adopt a draft system for their tournament. Meanwhile, IPL franchise owners will have no first admission into the competition and will have to enter the open bidding as BCCI finalises the process to allocate the five teams. Follow Women’s IPL LIVE updates on Insidesport.IN
WIPL 2023: No IPL-like Auction, BCCI to adopt draft system for inaugural season, NO PREFERENCE for IPL franchises – Follow LIVE Updates
As per a Cricbuzz report, the BCCI is all set to undertake a draft process for players for the inaugural Women’s IPL season. The Indian cricket board expects 60 Indian players to be picked for the tournament set to begin in March 2023. The number has been derived by special research on the availability of quality players in the domestic set-up.
The WIPL will be an inaugural five-team event, meaning each side can sign up to 12 quality Indian players from the draft. The franchises are also allowed a maximum of six overseas players to make up a squad of 18. Among the 6, only 5 will be allowed in the playing with 4 from Member Nations and 1 for Associate Nation.
As for the teams, the BCCI is leaning towards an open bidding process, meaning the current franchise owners will have no advantage. As many as six of the 10 IPL teams have reported interest in a women’s team, but now will have to compete with the rest for a seat at the table. Among new interested parties are the Odisha Government and Capri Global, who own teams in the ILT20 and have partnerships with Gujarat Titans.
WIPL 2023: No IPL-like Auction, BCCI to adopt draft system for inaugural season, NO PREFERENCE for IPL franchises – Follow LIVE Updates
The BCCI is yet to decide on the option of selling the franchises with doubts on bifurcating the same zone wise or with existing IPL cities. The zone-wise distribution – North (Dharamsala/Jammu), South (Kochi/Vizag), Central (Indore/Nagpur/Raipur), East (Ranchi/Cuttack), North East (Guwahati) and West (Pune/Rajkot) will see matches held at non-IPL venues). The existing IPL model will see matches held in the same grounds as IPL.
The first season of the WIPL will only have 20 games and only two venues are now in consideration. The BCCI office bearers and the IPL chairperson have been authorised to take a call on the venues and the scheduling of the inaugural WIPL following the AGM meeting on Tuesday.
