The date of the announcement of five franchises ahead of the inaugural Women’s IPL is getting closer and closer and more and more companies from various fields have shown interest in buying a team. More than 30 conglomerates from Information Technology (IT), FMCG and several other sectors including the cement industry have taken the Invitation to Tender (ITT) to buy a franchise in the Women’s IPL, apart from the 10 teams in the men’s competition.
Haldiram Group, APL Apollo, Shriram Group, Nilgiri Group and AW Katkuri Group some of the names, who have taken the ITT, as per a report in Cricbuzz. However, not all of them necessarily will bid for a team, come January 25, the date for the WIPL franchise auction.
Chettinad Cement and JK Cement have also shown interest in buying a franchise in the Women’s T20 League, taking inspiration from India Cements (owners of Chennai Super Kings). A couple of groups in other T20 Leagues – Capri Global (Sharjah Warriors in ILT20) and the Adani Group (Gulf Giants in the ILT20) too have bought the ITT.
Interestingly, the co-owners of the Delhi Capitals, JSW and GMR groups have gone solo and have submitted their tenders separately, the report further stated. This has happened before too as JSW bought the team in SA20 (Pretoria Capitals) and GMR went ahead with buying a team in the ILT20 (Dubai Capitals), albeit with the same branding.
After a whopping INR 951 crore media rights deal, the salary cap for franchises is set to be INR 12 crore, which will be increased by INR 1.5 crore every year and will be at INR 18 crore in 2027. The WIPL will allow five overseas players in the playing XI, out of which one must be from an Associate nation. The base prices for uncapped players are set at INR 10 and 20 Lakh, and for the capped players, it will be in the range from INR 30 Lakh, 40 Lakh to 50 Lakh.
