India plans to start Women’s IPL by 2023

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is planning to start the women’s Indian Premier League (IPL) by 2023.

The Board President Sourav Ganguly said recently, while the Women’s T20 Challenge, comprising four games, makes a return this season after a one-year gap.

The board is planning to have five or six teams in the inaugural edition. All the existing ten men’s IPL franchises will be given the first right of refusal to buy the women’s IPL teams.

IPL Chairman Birjesh Patel made it clear that this season there would be “four matches involving involving three women teams around the time of the men’s IPL playoffs.” Pune will be the most likely venue for the women’s game.

According to Patel, there would be five or six teams in the Women’s IPL, but again that would need the approval of the general body.

With the second half of the IPL shifted to the UAE because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Women’s T20 Challenge was not held last year. However, it was staged on the UAE in 2020 when Trailblazer won the title.