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Among the many decisions taken during the 91st Annual General Meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday, the apex cricket council of India approved the formation of the much-awaited Women's Indian Premier League (IPL). The decision was taken during the meeting held in Mumbai, while also approving the Senior Women’s Future Tour Programs for 2022-2025.
The Indian cricket board first its first women's cricket-related tournament in 2018, called the Women's T20 Challenge. At that time, there were only two teams — Trailblazers and Supernovas — who played a one-off match ahead of the IPL Qualifier 1 at the Wankhede Stadium on May 22. As many as 10 overseas players, including the likes of Alyssa Healy, Danni Wyatt, Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry, featured in the match.
The following year saw the addition of a third team — Velocity — and the tournament moved into a league format, with four matches, including the final, held during the second week of May 2019. All of these matches took place in Jaipur, with the Harmanpreet Kaur-led Supernovas securing victory in the competition.
The BCCI conducted the third edition of the competition in the UAE because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the tournament saw three teams playing three matches followed by the final. The Smriti Mandhana-led Trailblazers eventually won the trophy.
In 2021, the Women's T20 Challenge was called off because of the clash with India's tour of Australia. The tournament returned to India in 2022, with three teams playing three matches followed by the final in Pune on the sidelines of the men's IPL. Harmanpreet's Supernovas reclaimed their title and won the tournament for the third time.
Earlier, it was reported that BCCI plans to have a total of 22 league games, with teams playing each other twice. Each squad will have 18 players, and a maximum of six from overseas. No more than five overseas players can feature in the playing XI, with four from Full Member countries and one from an Associate nation.
The second finalist of the competition will be decided via an Eliminator between the second and third-ranked teams from the league phase. The BCCI is yet to finalise the schedule of the W-IPL, but it will most likely clash with the inaugural season of the Women's Pakistan Super League.
