Five new teams created for first ever Women’s Premier League in India

Australia’s T20 superstars are set for a massive payday after confirmation of five new Women’s Premier League teams in India.

Australia’s cricketing superstars are set to reap major rewards after more than $800 million was spent to buy five franchises for the first-ever women’s Premier League T20 tournament in India.

The massive figure was more than the sum spent to launch the men’s IPL 15 years ago and was lauded as an “historic day in cricket”.

Australian vice-captain Alyssa Healy said the WPL would “change women’s cricket for the better” while fast bowler Megan Schutt said players were “nervous” about what’s to come.

On Wednesday, the BCCI announced the sale of five franchises for the WPL, which will be played in March, with the owners of IPL’s Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore franchises splashing the massive amount to get involved.

The highest bid was approximately $223m to buy the Ahmedabad franchise, with the BCCI having already sold the tournament‘s media rights for the next five years for $165m.

“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,” tweeted BCCI secretary Jay Shah.

“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.”

"I think it's going to change women's cricket for the better"

Australia's Alyssa Healy on the upcoming #WIPL 🗣 pic.twitter.com/U0SSbRRXBy

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) January 23, 2023

Australian stars including captain Meg Lanning, vice-captain Alyssa Healy and the number-one T20 batter in the world, Tahlia McGrath, will be among those set to cash in on the new league, with a player auction to be held – details of which are yet to be released.

Each team is set to have a salary cap of at least $2 million, which is more than the men’s BBL teams and could see players earn up to $300,000 just for the tournament. Squads are set to include between 15-18 players, of which seven can be from overseas.

Arun Dhumal, the chairman of the IPL, said finalising the schedule and itinerary for the first season of the WPL was “a work in progress”.

Healy, the Australian vice-captain, said the WPL was going to “change women’s cricket for the better”.

“It’s probably going to put a lot of pressure on other global organisations, or countries around the world, to lift – that’s probably the best way that I’ll put it,” she told ESPN cricinfo.

“The most exciting thing about it is that it’s happening and that there’s some buzz around it. It’s just going to be great for the game over here in India.”

Incredibly exciting 👏🏼 this marks the start of an era. Great for female cricketers but also great for female sport across the globe 🌎 investment equals opportunity 🙌🏼 #WPLhttps://t.co/Tb36EsMRkl

— Megan Schutt (@megan_schutt) January 25, 2023

Schutt said the excitement about potentially playing was mixed with a tinge of nerves about the unknowns of an auction.

“We’ve all talked about whether we’d put our names in there or not … we’re all a bit nervous to be honest,” Schutt said after the first T20 against Pakistan in Sydney on Tuesday.

“No one wants to be that kid like at high school where your name doesn’t get called out and no one picks you, so it’s a bit nerve-racking.

“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.”

England batter Danni Wyatt also took to Twitter to describe the start of the new tournament as ”amazing”.

Originally published as Five new teams created for first ever Women’s Premier League in India