WPL 2024 likely to be played in Bengaluru and Mumbai

The second season of the Women's Premier League (WPL) is likely to be contested in Bengaluru and Mumbai in February 2024. Similar to the inaugural edition season, there will be five franchises competing in the women’s T20 event.

The structure of the competition will be the same as in the first season, with the five teams competing in a double round-robin format before the top three teams advance to the knockouts. The table topper will advance directly to the final, while the other two teams will lock horns in the Eliminator.

Although the fixtures haven't been finalized yet, the competition will be held in a caravan fashion, with each team finishing its set of matches in one city before moving on to the next, according to a report in Women's CricZone. It is worth mentioning that earlier, it was reported that the next year’s WPL would use the same home-and-away format as the Indian Premier League (IPL).  

The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India), on October 19, published a list of players and of those, the five WPL franchises retained 60 players and released 29. As per reports, the board will hold an auction in December 2023 where teams will be able to add players to their squad.

After a long wait, the WPL eventually made its mark in February 2023 with five franchises - Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, UP Warriorz, Gujarat Giants, and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) participating. All the matches in the first season were played at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai and DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. 

The Mumbai Indians, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, the captain of the Indian women's team, outplayed the Meg Lanning-led Delhi Capitals, in the summit clash in Mumbai to become the first-ever champions of the tournament. The two teams that have had a forgettable season were the Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Giants who placed fourth and fifth in the points standings, respectively.