Women's Bangladesh Premier League: WBPL Inaugural Edition Possible Dates, Squad Strength, Overseas Players Limit

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The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Friday (January 17) announced the plans to launch the inaugural edition of the Women's Bangladesh Premier League (WBPL), featuring female Bangladesh cricketers with an intention to improve women's cricket.

According to reports, BCB director Nazmul Abedeen Fahim made the announcement of a franchise league for the country's women cricketers via a press conference outside the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.

"The tournament, which is being done for the first time on a test basis, will have three teams and they will play each other twice with a final match between the top two teams," Fahim was quoted as saying to the media.

While the dates have not been confirmed, a repor from CricBuzz states that the tournament will take place from February 8 to 15, which is after the BPL and before the Champions Trophy begins.

"It will take place shortly after the men's BPL ends, lasting eight to nine days. Discussions with franchises have already taken place, and they're keen to participate," Fahin said on potential interest from BPL franchises.

The BCB Director also added that all matches of the inaugural WBPL will take place in Mirpur. "All the matches will take place in Mirpur's Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium and we have already spoken to quite a few franchises who are interested in participating. We will announce them soon," Fahin added.

Unlike the BPL, there will be one foreign player in each team instead of four with a squad strength of a maximum of 15 local player as Fahim explained why the number of teams has been kept low.

"Each team will have 15 local players, with the foreign player quota remaining open. We wanted to have as much quality as possible here which is why we kept the number of teams low. Let's see how things go and we might see more teams later," Fahim said.

"Our focus is not just on hosting a tournament for financial gains but on improving the standard of women's cricket. A three-team competition will be more competitive."

Women's Bangladesh Premier League - All We Know So Far

• Number of teams: 3
• Dates: February 8-15 (possible)
• Venue: Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur
• Squad Strength: 15 local players and overseas to be decided soon
• Overseas players in Playing 11: Only one foreign player can be part of the XI

Once launched, WBPL will become the latest addition to the franchise cricket leagues for women's cricket. Women's Premier League run by BCCI, Women's Big Bash League organized by CA, CWI's Women's Caribbean Premier League and the women's Hundred are some of the big leagues.