The highly-anticipated inaugural season of Women's Indian Premier League (WIPL) is set to kick off in March next year, right before the commencement of the Men's IPL and after the Women's T20 World Cup which will sum up on February 26 in South Africa. Sports Tak has learned that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has zeroed down on two dates - March 07 and March 10 - for the commencement of the multi-franchise tournament.
"In the last meeting, we had discussions regarding the dates but it is not finalised it. The tournament may start either on March 07 or March 10. We are yet to stamp a tournament plan," a BCCI source told Sports Tak on the condition of anonymity.
Commenting on the number of players and auction, the source added "more than 200 names are in the list including overseas players. We have to wait and watch what happens in the coming days. Currently, we are working on media rights, later will take a call on player auction and other things."
As per the plan proposed by The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), a total of 22 league games will be played with teams to play each other twice, with each squad comprising 18 players with a maximum of six from overseas. No more than five overseas players can feature in a playing XI, with four from Full Member countries and one from an Associate nation.
The second finalist 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 WIPL. The WIPL is likely to clash with the inaugural season of the Women's Pakistan Super League.
“To have a well balance of domestic & international players and to have competitive teams, it has been tentatively decided to have five teams for WIPL. Each team can comprise maximum of eighteen players where no team can have more than six overseas players. Further, no more than five overseas players - four from Full Members of the ICC and one from the Associate Members of the ICC – can be part of the playing XI of each team,” BCCI had said earlier.
