BCCI gives green light to Women's IPL during 91st Annual General Meeting in Mumbai

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)'s Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held on Tuesday, October 18 in Mumbai and many new things have been implemented as per their Agenda. The AGM saw the 1983 World Cup winner Roger Binny  succeed Sourav Ganguly to become the 36th president of the national cricket board. 

Another key pointer in this AGM was the the eagerly-awaited Women's IPL which is all set to take off from 2023 onwards. The General Body during the board meeting officially gave a thumbs up for organizing the Women's edition of the Indian Premier League. 

Women's IPL to get underway from next year onwards

After several delays, the Women's IPL will finally get to see the light of day from next summer onwards courtesy of some outstanding performances from the Indian women's team over the last few years. The Women in Blue had finished as the runners-up in the 2020 edition of the World T20.

Even though the Indian eves failed to make the semis of the 2022 Women's World Cup, they still had an excellent year having clinched silver at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and winning a record seventh Women's Asia Cup title last week. 

This, with the women's cricket gaining a significant number of audience and viewerships, the BCCI has finally decided to give the talented women's cricketers a platform of their own to shine and compete with the rest of the world. 

Earlier, former BCCI President Sourav Ganguly had made it clear that the cricket board has designated a separate window for Women's IPL which is slated to be played in March 2023. The inaugural edition of the tournament is reportedly set to have five teams, 20 league matches which will be played across two venues. 

Other decisions at the AGM included electing the BCCI Office Bearers and IPL GC representatives.

With Roger Binny elected as the new board president, Rajeev Shukla has retained his position of the vice-president. Even Jay Shah will continue as the BCCI secretary. Devajit Saikia and Ashish Shelar will be taking over as the joint secretary and treasurer respectively. Meanwhile, former treasurer Arun Singh Dhumal and Avishek Dalmiya have been elected as the representatives of the Indian Premier League Governing Council.

The General Body also went thoroughly through the Statement of Accounts for the previous as well as this Financial Year. While the audited accounts for FY 2021-22 were passed and adopted, the Annual Budget for the ongoing FY 2022-23 was approved.

The General Body has also duly approved the Future Tour Programs for both Senior Men's and Women's team. While the Men's FTP is a five-year cycle ranging from 2023 to 2027, the Women's FTP is of a four-year span from 2022-2025.