Women IPL to Take Place in March 2023

The BCCI has set aside a window in March 2023 for the first season of the women’s IPL, and preparations are already underway to launch the event.

The BCCI has already made changes to its domestic women’s schedule to make room for the women’s IPL. The season for ladies, which typically lasts from November to April, has been moved up one month. The T20 competition will now kick off the senior women’s season for 2022–23 on October 11 and the inter-zonal one–day competition will now conclude in February of the following year.

The Women’s T20 Challenge has been run by the BCCI since 2018, with a break in 2021 because of the Covid-19 epidemic. In the initial season, it was played as a single exhibition game between two teams, but now there are three teams, and many well-known players from outside of India are participating. However, there has been a growing demand for a larger competition like the men’s IPL for some time.

The women’s IPL will take place in 2023, according to BCCI president Sourav Ganguly’s statement from February of this year. “We are at the level of formulation to have a full-fledged WIPL. It is certainly going to happen,” he had said. “I strongly believe that next year i.e. 2023 will be a very good time to start a full-fledged women’s IPL which will be as big and grand a success as men’s IPL.”

Then, in May, BCCI Secretary Jay Shah had hinted at a five- or six-team tournament while speaking to PTI, saying, “TI am thrilled at the kind of response we have got from stakeholders. Multiple existing IPL teams have enquired and expressed serious interest in owning WIPL franchises.”

A women’s IPL team is something that the Barbados Royals and Rajasthan Royals owners have publicly indicated interest in owning. The Knight Riders Group, which has teams in the CPL and the UAE’s ILT20 in addition to its IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders and is in the midst of a global expansion in the men’s arena, also seems eager to participate in the competition.

Three teams, including Trinbago Knight Riders, which is also owned by the Knight Riders Group, will compete in the first Women’s CPL, which will take place concurrently with the men’s competition later this year.