Bengaluru, Delhi shortlisted as venues for WPL second season

News Bengaluru, Delhi shortlisted as venues for WPL second season The BCCI has tentatively pencilled in a window between February 22 and March 17 Shashank Kishore and Nagraj Gollapudi 12 Jan 2024 • 10 mins ago Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals were the finalists in WPL 2023 • Getty Images The BCCI has shortlisted Bengaluru and Delhi as venues to host the 2024 Women's Premier League (WPL).

The BCCI has also tentatively pencilled in a window between February 22 and March 17 for the second season of the tournament. ESPNcricinfo has learned that the first part of 2024 WPL will be played in Bengaluru while Delhi will host the second leg, including the knockouts. Splitting the five team tournament, comprising 22 matches, across two venues will allow pitches at both venues to stay fresh for the 2024 IPL which is set to begin from March 22.

The inaugural WPL was launched in 2023 and was played only in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. BCCI secretary Jay Shah had recently said that the BCCI would ideally want to host the second season of WPL also in one state to offset the logistical challenges of conducting the tournament across venues within a tight window.

However, the BCCI has decided having two venues was a better option. But with just one big venue in Bengaluru (M Chinnaswamy Stadium) and in Delhi (Arun Jaitley Stadium), there will be matches over 10 consecutive days at each ground. So far neither the IPL nor the WPL has seen playing matches on more than two consecutive days at the same venue.

Mumbai Indians are the defending champions, having beaten Delhi Capitals in the finale of the first season last year. UP Warriorz Women Royal Challengers Bangalore Women Gujarat Giants Women Delhi Capitals Women Mumbai Indians Women India Shashank Kishore is a senior sub editor at ESPNcricinfo. Nagraj Gollapudi is a news editor at ESPNcricinfo.