BCCI secretary Jay Shah on Saturday said that the second edition of the Women's Premier League (WPL) will be played in only one city, as was the case in the first season. Shah, who is also chairman of the WPL committee, said the competition will start in the second or third week of February 2024. There were talks about next year's WPL being played in multiple cities like the IPL. “It has been decided that we will hold the tournament in February, most likely we will start in the second or third week.
“As far as the venue is concerned, it will be held in only one state so that it is better logistically – what if we don't get two venues in one city, that is,” Shah told reporters here on the sidelines of the WPL. auction.
“Logistics is very important for us this time, next time we can figure it out,” he said.
Digging deeper into the WPL venue selection, Shah said the BCCI has several options in front of it.
“We can do it in Bangalore or in Uttar Pradesh. We have so many locations, even in Gujarat where we have Ahmedabad, Rajkot and after a few years later Baroda can build their own stadium,” he said.
Shah said the governing body will soon have a sit-in with WPL franchises to finalize the venue.
“Basically it's a joint call between the franchises and the BCCI. We will sit together and decide. But it will be in one state, that's for sure.” The BCCI secretary noted that the venue selection will have to be done carefully so as not to clash with the domestic matches.
“We will have to see where the venue is available. There are (domestic) matches in Gujarat, Chandigarh, Ranchi… it is not that we want to organize (WPL) matches only in Mumbai,” he said.
Shah expressed confidence that the WPL will be an even bigger success next year.
“This time it will be more successful. The biggest thing you saw today (in the auction) was two uncapped players getting such big amounts, especially Indian players.
“The franchises have shown a lot of interest in the Indian players, which is important,” he added.
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