Bengaluru, Delhi shortlisted as venues for WPL second season

NewsThe BCCI has tentatively pencilled in a window between February 22 and March 17

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 the first part of WPL 2024 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 the BCCI would want to host the second season of the WPL also in one state to offset the logistical challenges of conducting the tournament across venues within a small window.

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

Mumbai Indians are the defending champions, having beaten Delhi Capitals in the final of the inaugural season last year.

Shashank Kishore is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. Nagraj Gollapudi is a news editor at ESPNcricinfo