The Women's Premier League will hold its debut season in Mumbai from March 4 to 26, according to a statement released by the BCCI on Tuesday. The five-team franchise league, which is poised to take center stage, represents a significant step forward for the cricket governing body in the growth of women's cricket. Starting WPL was discussed for a long time back so that people will feel encouraged more toward Women's cricket. As the WPL is being held, spectators are looking forward to enjoying thrilling matches between world-class players. The Brabourne Stadium and the DY Patil Stadium will serve as the tournament's hosts for a total of 22 matches. On February 13, 2023, at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai, 409 cricketers will be auctioned off in the Women's Premier League Player Auction. The initial Women's Premier League Player Auction attracted 1525 players in total, but only 409 made the cut.
246 of the 409 players are Indian, and 163 are from other countries, including 8 from associate countries. There are 202 total capped players, 199 total uncapped players, and 8 players from associate countries.
With the five teams, there are a total of 90 slots available, 30 of which are designated for international players.
The maximum reserve price is INR 50 lakhs, and 24 players have chosen to be included in the top tier. The few Indians who have qualified for the top bracket are Team India Captain Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, and Shafali Verma, the captain of India's Under-19 T20 World Cup-winning team.
Ellyse Perry, Sophie Ecclestone, Sophie Devine, and Deandra Dottin, to name a few, are among the 13 foreign players who have positioned themselves below the INR 50 lakh reserve price.
With a starting bid of INR 40 Lakh, 30 players are included in the auction list. At 14:30 IST, the auction will start. INR 10 Lakh is the lowest base price in the WPL 2023 player's auction. The Ahmedabad-based franchise was purchased by Adani Sportsline Pvt Ltd for a staggering Rs 1,289 crore, the highest amount ever paid to acquire one of the five WPL franchises. The franchise for Mumbai was purchased by Indiawin Sports Pvt Ltd for Rs 912.99 crore, coming in second on the list, and Lucknow was purchased by Capri Global for Rs 757 crore, the lowest bid in the auction. Each of the five franchises will be allocated INR 12 crore (about USD 14.6 million) to spend on creating their teams, having between 15 and 18 players on each squad.
Since then, a few of the franchises have started putting together their team management in preparation for the auction. Charlotte Edwards and Jhulan Goswami, former captains of England and India, are the head coaches of Mumbai; Mithali Raj serves as a mentor at Adani's Gujarat Giants, where former Australian batter Rachael Haynes is the head coach. The coaching staff for the Bengaluru, Delhi, and Lucknow squads have not yet been named.