RCB captain Smriti Mandhana advocates for an IPL-like multi-city format in WPL

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) women’s team captain, Smriti Mandhana wants an IPL like multi-city model for the Women’s Premier League (WPL). However, BCCI has begun opening up WPL to India. Unlike the inaugural edition, WPL 2024 will be played in two cities: Bengaluru and Mumbai.

“It would be great to have WPL in the multi-city format. I think that might be the next step and I am sure the people right here would look into it and make it happen,” Smriti Mandhana said on an RCB podcast.

Home & Away WPL?

BCCI introduced WPL as the successor to the Women’s T20 Challenge. Unlike Women’s Big Bash League or The Hundred, WPL began with a five-team model in a round-robin league format. Mumbai and Navi Mumbai hosted all the matches, and the Mumbai Indians clinched the inaugural title. Among the participating teams were RCB, Mumbai, and Delhi Capitals, securing ownership through successful bids.

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In drawing parallels to the Indian Premier League (IPL), which has evolved into the most lucrative and wealthiest franchise-based domestic T20 league globally, she highlighted the benefits of the multi-city approach. The IPL, which commenced with eight teams and later expanded to ten, has consistently followed a home-and-away format from its inception.

Expressing her sentiments as an RCB fan, she said her desire to experience playing in Chinnaswamy, with the crowd passionately behind her. She mentioned that being in such an environment would be a significant step forward. In discussing the potential adoption of a multi-city format for the Women’s Premier League, she noted that it could extend the reach of women’s cricket to areas where it hasn’t yet reached, attracting new audiences to the sport.

“As an RCB fan, I would love to play in Chinnaswamy where people are chanting ‘RCB RCB’ and just to be in that environment. 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 new audience going into women’s cricket,” Mandhana added.

Mandhana even, stressed the need for a good team atmosphere and said she will make spending time with the team a priority for success in the upcoming WPL season.

“A lot of thoughts have gone into what kind of combinations we need in terms of releases or retention. So we are really looking forward to the WPL auctions and hopefully, we get the players who we are looking forward to getting,” Mandhana concluded.

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