March 5, 2023:
The inaugural Women’s Premier League kicked off on Saturday with a glittering opening ceremony at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai, with the captains of all five teams unveiling the tournament trophy.
The WPL opening ceremony saw Bollywood stars Kiara Advani, Kriti Sanon, and AP Dhillion setting the stage on fire with sizzling performances, following which the trophy unveiling took place in presence of captains as well as the BCCI officials.
Harmanpreet Kaur (Mumbai Indians), Smriti Mandhana (Royal Challengers Bangalore), Meg Lanning (Delhi Capitals), Beth Mooney (Gujarat Giants), and Alyssa Healy (UP Warriorz) unveiled the trophy in front of a packed crowd at the stadium in Mumbai.
The Women’s Premier League was a long-awaited development in women’s cricket in India; earlier, four teams participated in a week-long Women’s T20 Challenge in between the Indian Premier League window.
In the WPL, there will be a total of 20 league matches and two playoff games and these will be played over 23 days. A total of 87 women’s cricketers will be participating in the inaugural edition of the tournament.
Throughout the 22-game season, each of the five teams will face each other twice before the eliminator match on March 24 determine the second team for the for March 26 final.
In its inaugural edition, five teams – Delhi Capitals, Gujarat Giants, Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore and UP Warriorz splurged their purse to acquire some of the best talents in the international and domestic circuit. India’s Smriti Mandhana was the top buy as she was sold for a whopping ₹3.40 crore to Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The final game of the league stage will be played between UP Warriorz and Delhi Capitals on March 21 at the Brabourne Stadium.The Final of the Women’s Premier League 2023 will be played at the Brabourne Stadium on March 26.
