The Women's Premier League (WPL) 2023 will kick off on March 4 at the DY Patil Stadium with a blockbuster match between Gujarat Giants and Mumbai Indians, the BCCI confirmed on Tuesday while announcing the schedule for the inaugural edition of the tournament.
In its inaugural season, the WPL will host 20 league matches and two playoff games over the course of 23 days.
The league, which features five teams (Delhi Capitals, Gujarat Giants, Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and UP Warriorz), will hold its first double-header day on March 5 when Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Delhi Capitals at the Brabourne Stadium, CCI, and UP Warriorz take on Gujarat Giants.
The first of four double headers will begin at 1530 hrs IST, and all evening matches will begin at 1930 hrs IST. The DY Patil Stadium and Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai will host 11 matches each, according to a BCCI press release.
The final league stage game will be played on March 21 at the Brabourne Stadium, CCI, between the UP Warriorz and the Delhi Capitals.
On March 24, the Eliminator will be held at DY Patil Stadium. On March 26, the Women's Premier League 2023 Final will be held at Brabourne Stadium.
The schedule was announced a day after the WPL Player Auction concluded in Mumbai. For the inaugural season of the league, the five franchises splurged on some of the best talent on the international and domestic circuits.
Smriti Mandhana of India was the top buy, selling for a whopping INR 3.40 crore to Royal Challengers Bangalore. Harmanpreet Kaur, Team India's captain, was sold to the Mumbai Indians for INR 1.80 crore, while the rest of the stars from India and around the world also made the cut in one of the five franchises.
The top foreign buys were Australia all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner and England all-rounder Natalie Sciver, who were sold to Gujarat Giants and Mumbai Indians for INR 3.20 crore each.
Shafali Verma, the ICC U19 T20 World Cup-winning captain of India U19, was the top buy, sold to Delhi Capitals for INR 2 crore.