Indian cricket board to hold first WPL auction next week – Sport

NEW DELHI: The five teams participating in the Women’s Premier League Twenty20 cricket tournament will bid for 409 cricketers from around the world next week, the Indian Cricket Board announced on Tuesday.

The world’s richest and most powerful cricket organization in January earned $572.5 million from bids to own five teams in the league, which will be played from April 4 to 26. March in the western Indian city of Mumbai.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) already hosts the money-making Indian Premier League men’s tournament, and the new women’s league will expand the boards franchise’s cricket empire.

The board also shared the shortlist of WPL players, which includes 246 Indian players and 163 foreign players out of the 1,525 cricketers registered for the auction.

In a statement, BCCI secretary Jay Shah said a maximum of 90 spots will be available for five teams, of which 30 will be for foreign players.

Several top female cricketers, including Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma and Australia’s Ellyse Perry, have a base auction price of around $60,000.

In January, Shah described the start of the WPL as a historic day and said the tournament marks the beginning of a revolution in women’s cricket.

The announcement comes weeks after the BCCI said it expects to earn $116.7 million after Viacom18 won the media rights to air the first five seasons of the women’s league.

Last year, the BCCI sold the rights to the men’s IPL for a record price of $6.2 billion for five seasons.

Published in Dawn on February 8, 2023