Women’s T20 Challenge 2022 to be held in Pune from May 23 to 28

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday confirmed that the Women’s T20 Challenge 2022 will be held from May 23 to May 28. The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 final will be played on May 29 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

All the matches of the Women’s T20 Challenge will be played in Pune. There will be three round-robin games, followed by the final on May 28.

The Women’s T20 Challenge was started in 2018 with a one-off match played between two teams named IPL Trailblazers and IPL Supernovas. In 2019, the Challenge was expanded to three teams, with IPL Velocity joining the two existing sides. Due to the women’s tour of Australia, the matches could not be held last year.

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Meanwhile, the BCCI also confirmed earlier reports regarding the playoff venues for IPL 2022. Qualifier 1 will be held at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on May 24, followed by the Eliminator on May 25. The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad will host Qualifier 2 on May 27 and the IPL 2022 final on May 29.

BCCI planning to replace Women’s T20 Challenge with women's IPL in 2023: Sourav Ganguly

Earlier this year, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly confirmed that the cricket board is planning to start the much-awaited women’s IPL in 2023. He was quoted as saying by PTI back then:

"We are at the level of formulation to have a full-fledged WIPL. It is certainly going to happen. I strongly believe that next year i.e. 2023 will be a very good time to start a full-fledged women's IPL which will be as big and grand a success as the men's IPL.”

A number of prominent Indian women cricketers like Jemimah Rodrigues and Smriti Mandhana have called for the introduction of an IPL-like tournament for women as well.

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Cricket Australia (CA) already has a Women’s Big Bash League in place. Harmanpreet Kaur, Mandhana, Rodrigues and Shafali Verma were among the eight Indian players who featured in the 2021 WBBL.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) held the Women's Hundred simultaneously with the men’s competition during the inaugural edition, which was held in July-August last year.