After 16 years and numerous requests, cricket fans in India will finally see the dawn of new age of women’s cricket in the country. The BCCI did confirm and announce the WT20 League for the 2023 season, the first and inaugural season of the women’s T20 franchise cricket. In a bid to uplift and fastrack the level of women’s cricket in the country, the league is seen as a perfect stage and platform for talented individuals to showcase their skills.
The tournament will see five teams from different cities with a mix of foreign and Indian cricket players battling it out to win the trophy. The five teams are as follows: Gujarat Giants, Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, UP Warriorz, and Royal Challengers Bangalore. A total of INR 4669.99 crores was spent to acquire these 5 teams.
WT20 2023 Schedule/Format
The tournament will start on March 4 with Gujarat Giants taking on Mumbai Indians in the opening match of the tournament at the DY Patil Stadium. The league stage will be played until March 21, then followed by the playoffs on March 24 and the finale on 26th of March.
All the teams will be facing off each other twice in the league stages, where a total of 20 matches will be played. The table-topping team after the 20 league stage games will directly make it to the finals. The second and the third-place team will then lock horns in the playoffs, where the winner will confirm the second berth in the finals.
WT20 Team Rules
Each team is allowed to have a maximum of 18 and a minimum of 15 players in their squad. A total of only 6 foreign players are allowed in the squad. Only five international players will be allowed in the playing X1 of all the respective teams.
Media Rights for WT20 2023
Media Rights do play an important role in the success story of the inaugural WT20 League. The BCC is planning a similar roadmap for the women’s league as that of men’s where a huge number of audience tune into the live matches, the higher the number of viewership the more successful the league will turn out to be.
The Viacom 18 Media Pvt will be broadcasting the live matches, the Sports 18 channel will telecast live matches on linear TV networks, while VOOT and Jio Cinema will be OTT platforms for live streaming. Viacom paid a whopping INR 951 crores to acquire media rights for the 2023-2027 cycle.
Sponsors and Partners
TATA is the title sponsor for the inaugural WT20 tournament as they did for the Men’s league last year overtaking VIVO. BCCI has also got sponsorship partners in Ceat, Dream 11, and Amul. All three brands are pioneers in their industry category and will be associated with the WT20 for three seasons until 2025.
