WPL 2024: Women's Premier League Set To Go Multi-City As Mumbai And Bengaluru Get Ready To Host The Matches

The Women’s Premier League (WPL) was a great success in the inaugural season in 2023 and it is ready to come back for another season. Following the success of the first season, there are speculations that this time the WPL will go multi-city following the home-away matches format. The first season of the WPL was hosted in Mumbai mostly in the DY Patil Stadium and the Brabourne Stadium but this time there are talks to take the tournament multi-city.

“The final decision (about venues) might come on December 9 (the day of the WPL auction) but it is highly likely that this year it (WPL) will follow the multi-city format with Mumbai and Bengaluru being the front-runners at this moment,” said a BCCI official.

The WPL received a positive response from the fans in the opening year. This might be the right time to take it to different cities across the country. Bengaluru always has a good audience for women’s cricket, and it has now grown because of the Women’s team of RCB in the WPL.

One of the most important reasons for this decision was the tough timeline that these players faced considering the international matches as well. The Mumbai and Karnataka Cricket Association have shown a lot of interest in hosting these matches and it would prove to be a revolutionary step in the development of Women’s Cricket.

Smriti Mandhana Also Backs The Multi-City Format For The WPL

Royal Challengers Bangalore women’s team captain Smriti Mandhana shared her thoughts on the decision and backed the multi-city format for the Women’s Premier League.

“It would be great to have WPL in a multi-city format. That might be the next step and I am sure people right here would look into it and make it happen. As an RCB fan, I would love to play in Chinnaswamy where people are chanting RCB, RCB’ and just to be in that environment,” Mandhana stated.

“That is something which is one step ahead for us that it (multi-city format) can reach to places where women’s cricket hasn’t reached and to get a new audience going into women’s cricket,” Mandhana added.

The Women’s Premier League’s Auction is scheduled to be held on 9th December and as many as 165 players will go under the hammer during the event.