Ever since the inception of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) last year, there were growing calls of hosting the tournament in multiple cities instead of limiting it to a solitary city. While the inaugural season was hosted in Mumbai earlier this year, and as the preparations for the second edition are gaining momentum, the calls are getting louder once again.

India vice captain and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Smriti Mandhana also voiced her support for a multi-city format in order to attract more eyeballs to women’s cricket.

“It would be great to have WPL in the multi-city format. I think that might be the next step and I am sure the people right here would look into it and make it happen. As an RCB fan, I would love to play in Chinnaswamy where people are chanting ‘RCB RCB’ and just to be in that environment,” Smriti said.

“That is something which is one step ahead for us that it (multi-city format) can reach to places where women’s cricket hasn’t reached and to get a new audience going into women’s cricket,” Mandhana added.

Earlier, BCCI joint secretary Devajit Lon Saikia had also stated that there were deliberations within the cricket board of making the tournament a multi-city event but stopped short of putting a timeline.

“Well there are certain plans as far as the WPL is concerned. It’s still early days but all I can say is that the BCCI secretary Jay Shah has a vision to develop the women’s game, and has been working dedicatedly to develop the WPL and gradually spread its wings across the country,” Saikia told The Statesman.

“There was a scope for five teams in the inaugural WPL, and 10 places were selected, among which Guwahati was also selected. But the bigger thing is that players from all states and zones were part of the WPL. Whether Guwahati or Kolkata has a team or got to host the matches doesn’t matter, there are a lot of players in WPL coming from Bengal and the eastern part of the country.

“With the success of inaugural WPL in 2022, I’m sure the number of teams will definitely grow from five in the coming years, just like the IPL where the number of teams have gone up to 10 from the earlier 8. And accordingly, these cities will also hopefully get their own teams in the coming years,” he went on to add.

With the WPL auction slated for December 9 in Mumbai, Mandhana said that the focus should be on investing in the right players.

“A lot of thoughts have gone into what kind of combinations we need in terms of releases or retention. So we are really looking forward to the WPL auctions and hopefully, we get the players who we are looking forward to getting,” she said.

Like the men’s team, RCB, who started early favourites for the title in the inaugural edition, however, endured a four-place finish, something which has triggered the outfit to release the likes of Dane van Niekerk and Megan Schutt ahead of the auction.

Meanwhile, West Indies all-rounder Deandra Dottin and Ireland’s Kim Garth have been slotted in the top bracket of players for the upcoming WPL auction to be held on December 9 in Mumbai.

“Rs 50 lakh is the highest reserve price with 2 players – Deandra Dottin and Kim Garth – choosing to be slotted in the top bracket,” stated a BCCI press release. Four players have been categorized into the Rs 40 lakh bracket.

The first edition of the tournament started on March 4 and finished on March 26 of this year. However, with the next season of IPL scheduled to begin by mid March, the WPL could begin as early as February.