Recently, the Women’s Premier League (WPL) the official name of the upcoming Women’s T20 league to be played in India and organized by BCCI was unveiled. Apart from this, Viacom18 had bagged the media rights for the league for INR 951 crores for the first 5 years.
And on January 25, the five successful bidders for the WPL franchises were unveiled. In a tweet, BCCI confirmed that the franchises based in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, and Lucknow will own teams in the WPL.
Adani Sportsline Pvt. Ltd and Indiawin Sports Pvt. Ltd secured the ownership rights of Ahmedabad and Mumbai while the teams from Bengaluru, Delhi, and Lucknow were bought by Royal Challengers Sports Pvt. Ltd, JSW GMR Cricket Pvt. Ltd and Capri Global Holdings Pvt. Ltd, respectively.
The combined valuation of the five teams was INR 4669.99 crores.
Now former India captain and BCCI President Sourav Ganguly said that the WPL was a brainchild of his administration during his three-year tenure and that women’s cricket has massive potential and that the tournament will not be limited to just 5 teams.
In an exclusive interview with India Today, Ganguly said: “We together have done the brainstorming during the time when I was BCCI president. I was President, Rajeev Shukla was VP, Jay Shah was Secretary, Arun Dhumal was Treasurer. We did this planning at that time, and now it was implemented. That has to be done. I am not surprised about Women's IPL as in India cricket has a big portion. And in the coming days, I don't think it will be limited to only 5 teams.”
He also talked on the issue of equal pay for women cricketers.
He said: “I have given much effort and time for Women's Cricket. In 3 years I and Jay both have given efforts for it. But in between there was Covid-19 for 2 years. Many things were stuck due to that. I have seen a lot of development in women's cricket in the last three years. And I give due credit to our women cricketers, coaches and staff who have done a tremendous job."
