Among all the things we talk about when talking about women's empowerment, cricket, especially in India, has become one of the favourite topics. The discussion on pay parity, viewership and love for women's cricket doesn't seem to end.
Now, what comes as a new but long-awaited initiative, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is all set to launch women's Indian Premier League (IPL) as a five-team tournament in March 2023. This launch, as many believe, will give women's cricket in India the kickstart it needed.
Why now? The BBCI has taken this decision with respect to the increase in demand for women's cricket recently.
A cluster caravan is a form of a match in which multiple venues at different are selected but the match is held only in two cities at a given point in time.
How the team will be selected?
Unlike the men's IPL, where franchises bid for teams in a particular city, the BCCI has chalked out two possible plans for the WIPL.
Plan 1: The first one comprises selling teams across six zones spanning the country. A set of cities in each zone has been shortlisted and comprised. Here are the possible zones:
Plan 2: The second strategy calls for selling teams without a stable home base and scheduling games at six IPL venues that have been shortlisted:
However, the final decision will be taken by the IPL Governing Council chairman at the upcoming Annual BCCI meeting - along with the BCCI office bearers.
dailyO spoke with Yash Lahoti, 27, Founder and CEO, Women's CricZone about the beginning of this new era for women in cricket. Though he says it was an expected decision he is still happy about it. However, when asked about why the women's team has only six teams as compared to ten, he says, "If you start something you'll be asked if you start small and efficiently and if you're successful, you will be asked to expand."
For people comparing WBBL with the first Women’s IPL, I think the first WIPL will generate more revenue than minimum 3 editions of WIPL.
— Yash Lahoti (@YvLahoti) October 13, 2022
Also, the salaries of players will be a lot more.
If you want a commercially successful and long lasting model, you need to start small.
Can women's IPL be as successful as men's? Yash says, "We shouldn't compare both since men's IPL is a successful 'company' now since last 15 years." He claims, however, that he won't be shocked if women's IPL attracts more viewers than professional kabaddi or other comparable programmes and quickly surpasses all other sports programming to take second place, after men's IPL.
What could be the possible challenges that WIPL might face? Yash laid out very pragmatic explanations for the difficulties the WIPL might encounter: