WPL Inaugural Edition: Schedule, Team list, Captains

The women’s Premier League (WPL) inaugural edition is going to begin on March 4^th and the schedule for the tournament is being announced by BCCI today. There are five teams participating in the WPL 2023.

WPL Teams and Captains

• Gujarat Giants – Might be Ashleigh Gardner or Beth Mooney
• Mumbai Indians – Harmanpreet Kaur
• UP Warriors – Alyssa Healy 
• Royal Challengers Bangalore – Smriti Mandhana
• Delhi Capitals – not yet announced. The best options are Jemimah Rodrigues, Meg Lanning, and Shafali Verma.

WPL Auction 2023

The WPL Auction was held in Mumbai last week and each franchise confirmed their squads for the inaugural season of the women’s league. Each team had a total of 12 crores to spend for a squad of 15 to 18 players, which includes 6 overseas players. India’s Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma along with Australia’s Ashleigh Gardner and England’s Natalie Sciver-Brunt have got big contracts at the WPL 2023 Auction.

Smriti Mandhana was the most expensive player in the WPL auction, as the left-handed batter splurged for INR 3.4 crores for the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Indian women’s cricket team captain Harmanpreet Kaur was auctioned by Mumbai Indians for INR 1.8 crores.

Nat Sciver-Brunt is the biggest buy for Mumbai Indians with a sum of INR 3.2 crores, and she became the most expensive overseas player in the tournament.

The current No.1 in ICC T20I all-rounder ranking, Ashleigh Gardner also commanded a total of INR 3.2 crores for Gujarat Titans. Deepti Sharma, the second-ranked ICC T20I all-rounder is being auctioned for INR 2.6 crores for UP Warriorz. The ICC No.1 ranked bowler Sophie Ecclestone has also signed for UP Warriorz for INR 1.8 crores.

A total of 87 players are being signed for the 5 teams in the WPL. The inaugural season of the WPL season will be held from March 4 to 26, hosting 22 matches in two venues, DY Patil Stadium and Brabourne Stadium.

WPL 2023 Match Schedule