The Women's Premier League (WPL), also known as the TATA WPL for sponsorship reasons, is a women's Twenty20 cricket franchise league in India, owned and operated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
The first season, played in March 2023, saw the Mumbai Indians winning the inaugural title. Matches took place in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, with five franchises participating.
The second season, conducted in February–March 2024, resulted in Royal Challengers Bangalore winning the title. Matches were hosted in Bengaluru and Delhi.
Season | Winners |
---|---|
2023 | Mumbai Indians |
2024 | Royal Challengers Bangalore |
The first major women's Twenty20 competition in India was the Women's T20 Challenge. This started as a single-match tournament in 2018, and was expanded to a three-team, three-match competition held in 2019, 2020 and 2022.
In February 2022, then BCCI President Sourav Ganguly announced plans to establish a women's version of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the major men's Twenty20 franchise cricket competition in India, replacing the Women's T20 Challenge. By August plans were more advanced and in October the BCCI announced that they were considering a five-team tournament which would take place in March 2023. This league was informally known as the Women's Indian Premier League; BCCI Secretary Jay Shah clarified that the BCCI officially named it the Women's Premier League.
On 28 January 2023, the BCCI invited bids for the league's title sponsorship rights until 2027. Tata Group won the bid for an undisclosed amount. Mumbai Indians were the inaugural winners of the tournament, beating Delhi Capitals in the final.