Bidding process fetches staggering prices for the five inaugural Women's Premier League clubs, as players wait for their turn to go under the hammer next month
Laura Jolly
26 January 2023, 08:13 AM AEST
@JollyLauz18
The five inaugural Women's Premier League (WPL) franchises have been sold for a combined figure of approximately AUD$811m in a deal that has been described as "transformative" for women's cricket.
Three existing Indian Premier League teams – Delhi Capitals (AUD$140m), Mumbai Indians (AUD$156m) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (AUD$154m) – secured rights, while the other two teams were bought by Adani Group and Capri Global Holdings, among 16 competing parties.
Adani Group's bid of approx AUD$223m to buy the Ahmedabad franchise was the highest of the five purchased, while Capri Global Holdings paid $131m for the Lucknow-based franchise.
It is another significant financial boon for the women's game and follows hot on the heels of the WPL's five-year broadcast deal with Viacom, which was reportedly worth around AUD$167m.
"Today is a historic day in cricket as the bidding for teams of inaugural WPL broke the records of the inaugural Men's IPL in 2008!" wrote the BCCI's honorary secretary Jay Shah on Twitter. "This marks the beginning of a revolution in women's cricket and paves the way for a transformative journey ahead not only for our women cricketers but for the entire sports fraternity.
"The WPL would bring necessary reforms in women's cricket and would ensure an all-encompassing ecosystem that benefits each and every stakeholder.
"The BCCI has named the league – Women's Premier League (WPL). Let the journey begin."
The first WPL auction will be held early next month, ahead of the Women's T20 World Cup in South Africa, and Australia swing bowler Megan Schutt has compared the novel experience of submitting her name with the nervous feeling of waiting to be picked for teams in the schoolyard.
Each squad is set to include between 15-18 players, of which seven can be from overseas.
Each playing XI however will have a cap of five overseas players, but the fifth must be from an associate country.
That leaves 30 spots for overseas players from full member nations, and Schutt said she expected most, if not all, of Australia's top players to have put their hat in the ring.
"We've all talked about whether we've put our names in there or not … we're all a bit nervous to be honest," Schutt said following the first T20I against Pakistan in Sydney.
"No-one wants to be that kid like high school where your name doesn't get called out and no-one picks you, so it's a bit nerve-wracking.
"It's an exciting opportunity … I hope that pretty much every cricketer in Australia puts their name in the hat, to be honest.
"I expect them to. Again, there’s only (limited) international slots, so it's going to be pretty tough."
CommBank T20I Series
Tuesday Jan 24: Australia won by eight wickets
Thursday Jan 26: Blundstone Arena, Hobart, 7:05pm
Sunday Jan 29: Manuka Oval, Canberra, 1:45pm
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Australia T20I squad: Meg Lanning (c), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Heather Graham, Grace Harris, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham
Pakistan T20I squad: Bismah Maroof (c), Aiman Anwar, Aliya Riaz, Ayesha Naseem, Fatima Sana, Javeria Khan, Muneeba Ali, Nashra Sandhu, Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Sadaf Shamas, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, Sidra Nawaz, Tuba Hassan
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Aussies 'nervous' as WPL franchises sell for $811m – cricket.com.au
