The Women’s Premier League (WPL) is going to be organized for the first time under the banner of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the richest cricket board in the cricket world.
There is a big update from the BCCI regarding the first edition of the Women’s IPL to be played this year and the names of the owners of the 5 franchises participating in the tournament have been revealed.
The BCCI on Wednesday informed about the 5 franchises involved in the auction after the auction was cleared. A total of Rs 4669.99 crore was bid on 5 franchises in the auction. This bid also crossed the men’s IPL in the year 2008.
Apart from Ahmedabad, 5 franchises also include franchisees of Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Lucknow. Adani Sports Line Pvt Ltd made the highest bid of 1289 crores and acquired the ownership of the Ahmedabad franchise.
IndiaWin Sports Private Limited, owned by Reliance Group, owners of Mumbai Indians bought the Mumbai franchise for Rs 912.99 crore. Similarly, the Royal Challengers Group, which owns the Bangalore men’s team, bought their city franchise in the women’s edition of the T20 league by spending Rs 901 crore.
JSW-GMR Cricket Pvt Ltd sold the Delhi franchise for Rs 810 crore. And the 5th and last franchise was from Lucknow, which has been bought by Capri Global Holdings Pvt Ltd for Rs 757 crore.
BCCI Secretary Jay Shah described today as historic day. He tweeted and wrote,
“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! Congratulations to the winners as we garnered Rs.4669.99 Cr in total bid. This marks the beginning of a revolution in women’s cricket.”
Jay Shah put out another tweet and in it officially revealed the name of the women’s tournament. He wrote, “The @BCCI has named the league – Women’s Premier League (WPL). Let the journey begin.”