Women's IPL franchises sold for £465m in "transformative" women's cricket deal

25 January 2023 , 14:57

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England spinner Sophie Ecclestone featured in the Women's T20 Challenge, the precursor to a full women's version of the IPL (Image: Vishal Bhatnagar/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The five franchises for the new women's version of the Indian Premier League, which will be known as the Women's Premier League (WPL), have been bought for a combined £465m.

The WPL is scheduled to take place in March and will involve five teams based in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Lucknow. Three sides have been bought by groups that already own IPL teams Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals.

The two other sides were purchased by Capri Global and Adani Group, who made the top bid of £128m for the Ahmedabad franchise. BCCI secretary Jay Shah hailed the news as "transformative" for women's cricket, with the tournament's broadcast rights sold to Viacom 18 for around £96m earlier this month.

"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," Jay Shah said. "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."

BCCI president Roger Binny added: "I congratulate the winners for making successful bids to own WPL teams. The league will give players from India and abroad a chance to learn and grow together.

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"It will pave the way for development at the grassroots level with the inclusion of more women cricketers. I'm confident that the league will help our women cricketers shine on the global stage."

Several England stars have also hailed the news, with seamer Kate Cross tweeting: "Today is the day where you get to put your middle finger up to all those people who have devalued women's sport.. The @BCCI have recognised something special is happening and are going to give female cricketers the platform they deserve Here comes the #WPL"

Former bowler Isa Guha called it a "landmark day for the women's game", while opener Danni Wyatt tweeted: "This is amazing! how exciting".

Players have already been registering for the upcoming WPL auction, which is set to take place in February, and each team will be able to sign as many as seven overseas stars. The WPL replaces the Women's T20 Challenge, which was an invitational event staged since 2018 during the IPL.

Matthew Cooper