The dawn of a new era in women's cricket

(WPL) Women's Premier League is going to start on Saturday in the format of IPL, the world's most prestigious T-20 cricket franchise.  A total of 22 matches will be played between 5 teams in the first edition of WPL to be organized by BCCI, the highest body of Indian cricket.  The final match will be played on the 26th of this month.

Tata is the main sponsor of the tournament, which will be played in the T20 format.  The competition will begin on Saturday with the opening match between Gujarat Giants and Mumbai Indians.  Like the IPL, all five franchises in the WPL bought their favourite players through the auction.

With the advent of this new competition, a new era has begun in the world of women's cricket.  The BCCI had been facing challenges in launching a franchised Women's T20 league for several years, citing a lack of sponsors and broadcasters.\

The format that has been used for women for the past few years has been running parallel to the IPL for the last few years as a 4-match Women's T20 Challenge competition.  But after the successful organization of the women's T-20 league in Australia and England, the world's most successful cricket board BCCI finally decided to organize the women's premier league.

Mandhana Most Expensive Player:

Five teams will participate in the inaugural edition of WPL.  These five teams are Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Capitals, Gujarat Giants and UP Warriors.  Since then, the first 4 teams are participating in the men's IPL.  

Last January, the team bought five franchises for a total cost of $580 million (about Rs. 4,746 crores in Indian currency).  Similarly, 15 players from all over the world registered their names for the auction for a total of 90 places.  The player auction was held on February 13th.  Smriti Mandhana became the most expensive player in India.  Mandhana was bought by the Bangalore franchise for Rs 3.4 crore.  DY Patil & Brabard of Mumbai

Broadcasting:

Sports 18 TV and Jio Cinema have acquired the rights to broadcast the Women's IPL from Viacom 18.  These matches will be broadcast live on Spoters18 TV.  The game can also be viewed on the Jio Cinema app.  The total prize money for this competition is 10 crore rupees.  Each team was allowed Rs 12 crore to buy players.  This amount will increase by Rs 1.5 crore every year.

Mumbai Indians

Harmanpreet Kaur (Director), Amanjot Kaur, Heli Mathews, Heather Graham, Issy Wong, Chloe Tryon, Priyanka Bala, Nadhi Gujar, Saika Ishaq, Humira Kazi, Sonam Jacob, Jintimani Kalitta, Neelam Beast, Nate Siever-Brunt, Pooja Ghrakar, Yastika Bhatia and Amelie Kerr.

 Royal Challengers Bangalore:

Smriti Mandhana (Modernist), Sophie Devine, Heather Knight, Megan Scott, Kanika Ahuja, Erin Barnes, Dan van Niekerk, Preeti Bose, Komal Janjad, Disha Kassat, Indrani Shreyanka Patil, Asha Shovana, Punam Khemner, Sahana Pawar, Richa Ghosh,  Elise Perry and Renuka Singh.

Gujarat Giants

Beth Mooney (modern), Ashley Gardner, Shana Rana, Georgia Wareham, Annabelle Sutherland, Sophia Dunkley, Dienda Dottin, Hurley Gala, Sushma Burma, Tanuja Kanwar, Harleen Deol, Ashwini Kumari, S Meghna, Mansi Joshi, D Hemalta, Monica Patel, Manika Sisodia and Shabanim Sakil.

UP Warriors

Alyssa Healy (Modernist), Dipti Sharma.  (Vice Actress), Jess Harris, Anjali Sharwani, Rajeshwari Gaikad, Shweta Sherawat, Kiran Navgire, Lauren Bell, Parshvi Chopra, S Jashri, Lakshmi Jadhav, Simran Sheikh, Sophie Ecclestone, Tahila McGrath, Devika Baidya and Shabanim Ismail.

Delhi Capitals

Meg Lanning (starring), Jemima Rodriguez (starring), Shefali Barma, Marijan Kapp, Alice Kapsey, Sacha Pandey, Josh Jonassen, Laura Harris, Radha Jacobs, Minu Mani, Tanya Bhatia, Punam Jacobs, Sneha Pramithi Arundhati Reddy, Titas Sadhu, Jessia Akhtar, Tara Norris, Aparna Mandal.