Women’s IPL: A breath of fresh air

Indian women’s cricket has come a long way since making its international debut nearly six decades ago. From the days when it was considered a mere weekend pastime for young girls looking for some physical activity to be on the threshold of having its own Premier T20 League, women’s cricket in India has indeed reached the pinnacle. Indian women’s cricket had its international baptism in 1976 when they played their first Test match. Two years later, they made their One Day International debut at the World Cup. It is quite ironical that it took such a long time for the women’s game to make the big league in India although the country has produced players of international repute at the drop of a hat. Diana Edulji, Shantha Rangaswamy, Sandra Braganza, Rajani Venugopal, Purnima Rau, Anjum Chopra, Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Harmanpreet Kaur, SmritiMandana, Jemima Rodrigues, are just a fewnames who made the country proud and contributed to the game immensely on the international stage. Frankly, Indian women’s cricket dragged its feet for years as it was not given the pride of place it deserved until the Board of Control for Cricket in India decided to give the game a fillip it needed. Since the BCCI took it under its wings, more and more young girls have begun to dream big and aspiring to becomeprofessionals like their male counterparts. This is precisely the reason why Indian women and their teams have been giving big-hearted performances on the world stage. The recent title triumph of the Indian women’s team at the Under-19 World Cup underlines the phenomenal progress the game has made since the turn of this century. Be it in recognition or celebration of its success, the BCCI has decided to launch thewomen’s premier league on the lines of the men’s IPL T20. Perhaps, one should give full credit to Sourav Ganguly who, as the Board President, has given the nod to the women’s IPL, although there were some kind of T20 games among a couple of teams, since 2018. IPL’s impact has been so huge that today, almost all major cricket-playing nations like England, Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka have replicated it. The very concept of this league format is to provide budding andhomegrown cricketers to play alongside their icons of national and international repute to sharpen theircricketing skills. The T20 format has also proved a boon as it brought a fortune to thecoffers of respective boards. Encouraged by the IPL’s success, the BCCI invited bids forthe women’s league’s title sponsorship rights on 28 January this year. TATA has bought the rights for anundisclosed amount till 2027. The league structure for the WPL is similar to that of IPL. In theinaugural tournament, five teams – Delhi Capitals, Gujarat Giants, Mumbai Indians,Royal Challengers Bangalore, and UP Warriors– will play against each other ina double round robin format with three teams with the highest number points entering the playoffstage of the competition. BCCI sources say that the number of teams will be increased if the league proves to be a success. The first season of the leagueis scheduled to be played from March 4 through 26 and will feature 22 matches, all at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium and DY PatilStadium. The composition of a team for each match should include a maximum of fiveoverseas players, one of whom must be from anICC Associate Nation. Investors bought theinitial franchise rights in January 2023 through a closedbidding process, raising a total of Rs.4,669 Crore (US$580 million). Several companies responded to the sale of franchise rights meant for five years (2023 to 2027). Adani Group won the rights to the Ahmedabadfranchise for Rs. 1,289 Crore (US $160 million), Indianwin Sports Pvt Ltd, part of Reliance Industries,won the Mumbai franchise for Rs 912 Crore (US$110 million), Capri Global Holdings won theLucknow franchise for Rs 257 Crore (US$05 million) and Royal Challengers Sports Pvt Ltd, asubsidiary of alcohol manufacturing company Diegeo won the Bangalore franchise for Rs 901crore (US$110 million). According to Jack Genovese of Ampere Analytics, a media research firm,the league is the world’s second highest valued women’s sports league just behind the Women’sNational Basketball Association in the United States. The BCCI intends to distribute 80% of theprofits from the competition among the franchise owners during the first five years. For the nextfive seasons, 60% of the profits will be shared, and from seasons 11 to 15, 50% of the profits willbe distributed. Additionally, 80% of the revenue from the central licensing rights for thecompetition will be shared with the franchises. Like in the men’s IPL, the franchises will alsogenerate revenue through merchandise, ticket sales, and advertising. In the February 13 auctionthat was held in Mumbai, as many as 1500 players registered their names. Each franchise had Rs12 crore to spend and purchase between 15 and 18 players, six of whom can be overseas players.The base price of an uncapped player at the first auction was between Rs 10 to 20 lakh.For capped players it was between Rs 30 and 50 lakh (US$63,000). It is a win-win situation for everyone – the BCCI, franchises, associations, players and the game itself. While the gameis gaining popularity among womenit is also helping them to achieve financial independence. This initiative can also be considered as women’s empowerment, just as Centre’s steps to promote the fair sex and provide them opportunity in most challenging fields like theIndian Armed Forces (even as fighter jet pilots) or in a space mission, which was unheard of in thepast.