Women’s franchise cricket in India- WPL

The BCCI took the great initiative to start the Women's Premier League in 2023. It was a huge breaking point for all the female cricketers through the length and breadth of the country. Earlier, there was no equality in terms of pay and opportunity between men’s and women’s side of the game. But now, plots are changing and measures are being taken to ensure the growth of women cricketers as well. 

Before 2023, female players had only domestic matches, but now they have the option to play franchise cricket as well. Huge success of WPL in terms of participation and revenue in now boosting state organizations to conduct franchise cricket at state level as well. DDCA is soon going to conduct DPL in August-September 2024, it will be like a mini version of WPL.

Helping in growth 

Mega events like IPL and WPL help in the development of sports. They help in nurturing talent by providing the right platform. Many players like Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh etc. are the finds of IPL only. 

This league also helps in generation of revenue, thus helping the business side of the economy as well. Not only that, ex players get a chance to participate as they take up roles of coaches, trainers, mentors etc. 

Basic details of the tournament 

• Tata Group were the title sponsors 
• The tournament was held in double round robin format 
• The league’s mascot is Shakti, which is a tigresses 
• Players were picked in auction, with Smriti Mandhana being the most expensive player, she was bought for 3.4 crore 
• Franchises earn through- profits, revenue from central licensing, merchandise, ticket sales and advertising. 

Teams 

Response 

The response of WPL was much larger than expected. People stowed up in huge numbers and by the end of the second season, stadiums were jam packed. Earlier, it was a male dominated sport, but now, people are willing to watch women’s cricket as well. At the grassroots level as well, more and more young girls are willing to take up the sport. Hence, it is a huge success and will get bigger and better in the following years.

Jist of season 1 

The Premier season of WPL was won by Mumbai Indians. All the matches were held in Mumbai, either in DY Patil Stadium or in Brabourne Stadium. Most runs were scored by Meg Lanning (345) and most wickets were taken by Hayley Matthews (16). 

Highest total was 223/2 by Delhi Capitals against Royal Challengers Bangalore and the lowest total was 64 by Gujarat Giants against Mumbai Indians. 

Jist of season 2

The second edition of WPL was held in M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore and Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi. It was bigger and better than the first edition as crowds showed tremendous support. In 2024, Ellysse Perry was the purple cap holder as she managed to score 347 runs. Shreyanka Patil was the orange cap holder with 13 dismissals under her belt.