Tentative dates for Women's Premier League player auction is out, Mumbai could host the tournament
WPL player auction could take place in second week of February in Mumbai
In the latest development in relation to the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL), the tentative dates for the player auction are out – on February 11th in New Delhi or on 13th in Mumbai, as reported by ESPNcricinfo. Earlier, the BCCI was planning to organise a player auction on February 6th but due to several reasons it got postponed. Although the call on the final date will be made by the board within this week, it is also expected that Mumbai will play host to the maiden WPL’s edition – which is likely to be held between 4th to 24th March this year.
What led to the postponement of WPL player auction?
As four of the five WPL franchisesowners also own teams in the ILT20 tournament in the UAE and in the SA20 in South Africa, and with their finals scheduled to take place on 11th and 12th February, respectively, all of these collectively requested the BCCI to postpone the WPL player auction.
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The second reason why the board decided to hold the WPL player auction on a later date is that all these franchise owners didn’t get ample time to assemble the coaching staff that eventually will play a huge role in bidding for the players.
Later last month, the IPL team owners of Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore alongside Adani Group and Capri Global bagged owning rights of five teams at a total amount of INR 4669.99 crore (USD 572.78 million approx.) in what is deemed as the biggest deal in women's cricket.
While Adani Sporttsline have bagged the owning rights of Ahmedabad franchise, Capri Global, which is a non-banking finance company had gone for the Lucknow one. Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, who own IPL teams as well, have, however, picked their state-based franchises only.
Mumbai likely to host first WPL season
The BCCI is believed to have picked Brabourne Stadium and the DY Patil Cricket Academy in Navi Mumbai as venues for the maiden edition of the Women’s Premier League. The sole reason for picking just one city to host 22 matches is that the tournament will begin in less than seven days of culmination of the Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa, making it easier for the players, teams and even franchises to start with training at just one place.
