According to reports, the auction of the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is set to take place on December 16 in Bengaluru. Notably, the IPL 2022 mega auction was also held in Bengaluru. The 2023 edition will see the return of home and away format and is likely to begin from the last week of March.
For the 2023 season, teams will prepare for a mini-auction where they will have a purse of INR 95 crore which is 5 crores more than last year. The purse could further expand if a franchise releases or trades players.
The early reports regarding the 2023 IPL and the auction surfaced after BCCI President Sourav Ganguly sent out a note to all state authorities stating that the IPL will be returning to its former structure where teams will be playing in the ‘Home and Away’ format for the 2023 season. The statement said, “The next season of men’s IPL will also go back to the home and away format with all ten teams playing their home matches at their designated venues.”
On the same note, Sourav Ganguly also informed the state units that BCCI will kick off the Women’s IPL (WIPL) early next year. Ganguly wrote, “The BCCI is currently working in the much-awaited women’s IPL. We are expecting to start the first season early next year.”
The long-awaited women's IPL will include five teams tournament and will take place immediately after the Women's T20 World Cup ends in South Africa on February 26. The BCCI is hoping to have a total of 22 matches, with each squad comprising 18 players with a maximum of six from overseas. In any game, only five overseas players can feature in a playing XI, with four players being from Full Member countries and one from an Associate nation.
Every team will face each other twice during the league phase with the league leader entering the finals. The second finalist will be decided via an Eliminator between the second and third-ranked teams after the league stage. The BCCI hasn’t announced the WIPL schedule, but it will end before the men's IPL begins, which will start at the end of March.