Women’s Premier League 2023: All You Need to Know

The 2023 Women’s Premier League (WPL) is the inaugural edition of the tournament. Better known as an IPL for women, the WPL is owned and operated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and will feature five teams in its first season. Here’s all you need to know about the tournament.

History

The Women's T20 Challenge, which was played from 2018 to 2022, was the first major T20 league for women in India. Only a solitary game was played in the 2018 of the tournament, while three matches each between three teams were played in 2019, 2020 and 2022. The three participating teams were IPL Trailblazers, IPL Supernovas and IPL Velocity.

In February 2022, the then BCCI President Sourav Ganguly announced plans to start an IPL for women, which came to be known as the Women’s Premier League. The WPL has replaced the Women’s T20 Challenge.

On 28 January 2023, the Indian cricket board invited bids for the league's title sponsorship rights for a period of five years from 2023 to 2027.

The massive money involved

Delhi Capitals, Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, UP Warriorz and Gujarat Giants are the five teams in the tournament. A total of Rs 4,669 crore was paid by investors to acquire the five franchises.

"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! Congratulations to the winners as we garnered Rs.4669.99 Cr in total bid," BCCI secretary Jay Shah wrote on Twitter.

Adani Group bought the Ahmedabad franchise for Rs 1,289 crore, Reliance-owned IndiaWin Sports Pvt Ltd took control of the Mumbai franchise for Rs 912.99 crore, GMR–JSW Cricket Pvt Ltd won the bid for the Delhi franchise for Rs 810 crore, Capri Global bought the Lucknow franchise for Rs 757 crore while Royal Challengers Sports Pvt Ltd, acquired the Bangalore franchise for Rs 901 crore (US$110 million)

According to reports, the WPL is the world's second highest valued women's sports league only behind the Women's National Basketball Association.  Reliance Industries-owned Viacom18 bought the media rights for the tournament for Rs 951 crore for five years. Rs 7.09 crore is thus the per-match value of the league.

Costliest players and squads

The player auction for the Women's Premier League took place on February 1 at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai. Around 1,500 players registered their names, and each franchise had Rs 12 crore to spend. The five teams purchased 87 players for a combined amount of Rs 59.50 crore.

Smriti Mandhana was the most expensive player at the auction. She was bought for a staggering Rs 3.4 crore by RCB. All-rounder Deepti Sharma was the second highest-paid Indian player, signed by UP Warriorz for Rs 2.6 crore.

MOST EXPENSIVE PLAYERS AT THE WPL – TOP 10 LIST

Squads and predicted XI of all the teams

Delhi Capitals: Meg Lanning, Alice Capsey, Shikha Pandey, Jess Jonassen, Laura Harris, Radha Yadav, Minnu Mani, Taniya Bhatia, Poonam Yadav, Sneha Deepthi, Arundhati Reddy, Titas Sadhu, Jasia Akhter, Tara Norris, Aparna Mondal, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Marizanne Kapp

Predicted XI - Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Meg Lanning ( c ), Marizanne Kapp, Jasia Akhter, Radha Yadav, Taniya Bhatia (wk), Shikha Pandey, Poonam Yadav, Titas Sadhu, Jess Jonassen

Gujarat Giants: Ash Gardner, Sneh Rana, Beth Mooney, Georgia Wareham, Annabel Sutherland, Sophia Dunkley, Deandra Dottin,  Hurley Gala, Sushma Verma, Tanuja Kanwar, Harleen Deol, Ashwani Kumari, S Meghana, Mansi Joshi, D Hemalatha, Monica Patel, Parunika Sisodia, Shabnam Shakil

Predicted XI – Beth Mooney(C & WK), Sabbineni Meghana, Sophia Dunkley, Harleen Deol, Ash Gardner, Sneh Rana, Mansi Joshi, Dayalan Hemalatha, Annabel Sutherland, Hurley Gala, Monica Patel

Mumbai Indians: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Amanjot Kaur, Hayley Matthews, Heather Graham, Issy Wong, Chloe Tryon, Priyanka Bala, Dhara Gujjar, Saika Ishaque, Humairaa Kaazi, Sonam Yadav, Jintimani Kalita, Neelam Bisht, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Pooja Vastrakar, Yastika Bhatia, Amelia Kerr

Predicted XI - Yastika Bhatia (WK), Hayley Matthews, Harmanpreet Kaur(C), Amelia Kerr, Natalie Sciver, Chloe Tryon,Jintimani Kalita, Pooja Vastrakar, Amanjot Kaur, Sonam Yadav, Saika Ishaque

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Smriti Mandhana (c), Sophie Devine, Heather Knight, Megan Schutt, Kanika Ahuja, Erin Burns, Dane van Niekerk, Preeti Bose, Komal Zanzad, Disha Kasat, Indrani Roy, Shreyanka Patil, Asha Shobana, Poonam Khemnar, Sahana Pawar, Richa Ghosh, Ellyse Perry, Renuka Singh

Predicted XI - Smriti Mandhana (C), Sophie Devine, Heather Knight, Richa Ghosh (WK), Ellyse Perry, Meghan Schutt, Kanika Ahuja, Shreyanka Patil, Renuka Thakur, Preeti Bose, Asha Shobana

Up Warriorz: Alyssa Healy (c), Deepti Sharma (vc), Grace Harris, Anjali Sarvani, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shweta Sehrawat, Kiran Navgire, Lauren Bell, Parshavi Chopra, S Yashasri, Laxmi Yadav, Simran Shaikh, Sophie Ecclestone, Tahlia McGrath, Devika Vaidya, Shabnim Ismail

Predicted XI - Alyssa Healy (WK), Shweta Sehrawat, Tahila McGrath, Kiran Navgire, Devika Vaidya, Deepti Sharma (C), Shabnim Ismail, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Anjali Sarvani, Sophie Ecclestone, S Yashasri

Top five players to watch out for

From Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur to Australia captain Meg Lanning, these are the five players to watch out for in WPL 2023

Harmanpreet Kaur

The current captain of the Indian Women’s Cricket Team, Harmanpreet Kaur will be playing for Mumbai Indians, who bought her at the auction for Rs 1.80 crore. Kaur is one of the best in the business – she is the first Indian woman to score a T20 international century, has hit most sixes by an Indian woman in a T20I innings (8), and is also the first Indian woman to play in the Women's Big Bash League. The Sydney Thunder signed her up for the 2016-17 season of the tournament.

Smriti Mandhana

Smriti Mandhana, at Rs 3.40 crore, was the costliest buy at the auction. Mandhana, who has hit the fastest fifty by an Indian woman in T20I cricket, and is also the youngest Indian woman cricketer to score an ODI century, will be plying her trade for RCB. Like Kaur, Mandhana also brings with her the experience of playing in the WBBL.

Ashleigh Gardner

Ashleigh Gardner, at Rs 3.20 crore, was the second costliest pick at the auction. The all-rounder was in fine form in the recently concluded T20 World Cup, where she was the third-highest wicket-taker of the tournament. Gardner is also among the top 10 highest run-scorers and wicket-takers in WBBL history.

Beth Mooney

Australian batter Beth Mooney, who will be playing for Gujarat Giants, is the all-time highest run-scorer in the WBBL. She is also the first woman to score a century in a WBBL – an unbeaten 102 in 2019. Most recently, Mooney was the third-highest run-scorer at the T20 World Cup 2023, scoring 206 runs at an average of almost 52.

Meg Lanning

Australia women’s team captain Meg Lanning has been signed by Delhi Capitals for Rs 1.1 crore. Lanning brings with her plenty of experience - she has won seven World Cup titles with Australia – two ODI World Cups and six T20 World Cups. She is also the all-time second-highest run-scorer in women’s T20 internationals after Beth Mooney.

WPL 2023 Full Schedule