Women's Premier League 2023: All your questions answered
Cricket fans have their eyes on the calendar as the inaugural edition of the Women's Premier League (WPL) is set to get underway on Saturday (March 4). Gujarat Giants will meet Mumbai Indians in the tournament opener. Notably, a total of five teams are participating in the competition with 22 matches slated to be played. Here's all you need to know about the tournament.
Owners of the five teams
The Adani Group bought the Ahmedabad-based franchise (Gujarat Giants) for Rs. 1,289 crore. Indiawin Sports Pvt. Ltd. own Mumbai Indians, having bought the team for Rs. 912.99 crore. Royal Challengers Sports Pvt. Ltd bought Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs. 901 crore. JSW GMR Cricket Pvt. Ltd bagged Delhi Capitals for Rs. 810 crore. Capri Global acquired UP Warriorz for Rs. 757 crore.
Here is the schedule
The inaugural WPL season will see a total of 20 league matches being played in a span of 23 days. There will be two playoff matches - the Eliminator (on March 24 at DY Patil) and the final (on March 26 at the Brabourne Stadium). Notably, the two stadiums in Mumbai will host 11 matches each. The tournament comprises a total of four double-headers.
Here is the schedule
What is the format?
As per the format, all five teams will play each other twice in the round-robin stage. Hence, all sides will get to play eight games in the league stage. While the team finishing at the top of the table will directly qualify for the final, the second and third-placed teams will meet in the Eliminator to determine the second finalist.
Timing and Broadcasting details
The evening games are slated to start at 7:30 PM. On days when double-headers will take place, the afternoon game will begin at 3:30 PM. As Viacom 18 owns WPL's broadcasting rights, fans in India can catch the live telecast of the matches on Sports 18, Sports Khel, Colors Cinema, Colors Tamil and Colors Kannada Cinema. JioCinema will provide the live streaming.
A look at the captains and head coaches
Smriti Mandhana will lead RCB (Head coach: Ben Sawyer). MI will be led by Harmanpreet Kaur (Head coach: Charlotte Edwards). Meg Lanning will handle the reins of DC (Head coach: Jonathan Batty). Alyssa Healy will lead UP Warriorz. Jon Lewis will serve the team as the head coach. Beth Mooney will lead Gujarat Giants which has Rachael Haynes as the head coach.
How many players are allowed in the XI?
Each squad has 15 to 18 members, with six overseas players each. As per the rules, a maximum of four overseas players are allowed in a XI. However, if a team has an associate cricketer, she can be the fifth overseas player. DC were the only team to buy an associate player in the auction - Tara Norris, a left-arm pacer from USA.
Will the DRS be available?
Each team will be allotted a maximum of two unsuccessful reviews per innings. UltraEdge and HawkEye are the available technologies, which will be used to review the decision of the stand-in umpire.
Delhi Capitals
Squad: Jemimah Rodrigues, Meg Lanning (captain), Shafali Verma, Radha Yadav, Shikha Pandey, Marizanne Kapp, Titas Sadhu, Alice Capsey, Tara Norris, Laura Harris, Jasia Akhter, Minnu Man, Taniya Bhatia, Poonam Yadav, Jess Jonassen, Sneha Deepthi, Arundhati Reddy, and Aparna Mandal.
Mumbai Indians
Squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Nat Sciver, Amelia Kerr, Pooja Vastrakar, Yastika Bhatia, Heather Graham, Isabelle Wong, Amanjot Kaur, Dhara Gujjar, Saika Ishaque, Hayley Mathews, Chloe Tryon, Humairaa Kaazi, Priyanka Bala, Sonam Yadav, Jintimani Kalita, and Neelam Bisht.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Squad: Smriti Mandhana (captain), Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry, Renuka Singh Thakur, Richa Ghosh, Erin Burns, Disha Kasat, Indrani Roy, Shreyanka Patil, Kanika Ahuja, Asha Shobana, Heather Knight, Dane van Niekerk, Preeti Bose, Poonam Khemnar, Komal Zanzad, Megan Schutt, and Sahana Pawar.
UP Warriorz
Squad: Sophie Ecclestone, Deepti Sharma, Tahlia McGrath, Shabnim Ismail, Alyssa Healy (captain), Anjali Sarvani, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Parshavi Chopra, Shweta Sehrawat, S Yashasri, Kiran Navgire, Grace Harris, Devika Vaidya, Lauren Bell, Laxmi Yadav, and Simran Shaikh.
Gujarat Giants
Squad: Ashleigh Gardner, Beth Mooney (captain), Sophie Dunkley, Anna Sutherland, Harleen Deol, Deandra Dottin, Sneh Rana, S Meghana, Georgia Wareham, Mansi Joshi, D Hemalatha, Monica Patel, Tanuja Kanwer, Sushma Verma, Hurley Gala, Ashwani Kumari, Parunika Sisodia, and Shabnam Shakil.
