The Women's T20 Challenge shortly WT20 Challenge was an Indian women's cricketTwenty20 tournament that was held between 2018 and 2022. The tournament featured three teams, playing a round-robin group followed by a final. IPL Supernovas were the most successful team in the history of the tournament, with three title wins.
The tournament was replaced by a new franchise-based annual T20 tournament, the Women's Premier League, which began in 2023.
History
The idea for a women's version of the Indian Premier League was suggested after the 2017 Women's Cricket World Cup, where the India women's national cricket team finished second.[1] The tournament was first introduced in 2018, as a single match held in Mumbai prior to one of the men's matches. The match featured teams named IPL Trailblazers and IPL Supernovas.[2][3] In 2019, the Women's T20 Challenge was expanded to a three team tournament instead of a one-off match, with a new team called IPL Velocity competing alongside the IPL Trailblazers and IPL Supernovas,[4][5] in a round-robin format with the top two teams progressing to the final.[1] The 2020 event was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and held in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, alongside the rearranged men's IPL.[6]
In November 2020, Board of Control for Cricket in India president Sourav Ganguly suggested an expansion of the Women's T20 Challenge to 7 or 8 teams in 2022.[7] There were suggestions of adding a fourth team for the 2021 season,[8] but this was decided against due to the ongoing issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[9] The 2021 event was postponed along with the men's IPL, with no indication of a date for the women's event being played.[6] It was not held at the same time as the rearranged men's event, as the dates clashed with India women's tour of Australia.[10] In March 2022, the BCCI announced plans to start a women's IPL by 2023, with five or six teams in the inaugural edition.[11] The 2022 event took place in May 2022, to coincide with the playoffs of the men's IPL.[10]
In March 2022, BCCI announced a new franchise-based annual T20 tournament starting in 2023 to replace the Women's T20 Challenge,[12] which was later named the Women's Premier League.[13]
In the inaugural edition, IPL Supernovas won the match by 3 wickets in a last over thriller.[14][15] IPL Supernovas beat IPL Velocity by 4 wickets in the second edition and retained their title.[16][17] In 2020, IPL Trailblazers beat IPL Supernovas by 16 runs in the third edition and won their maiden title.[18][19] In 2022, IPL Supernovas won their third title, beating IPL Velocity by four runs in the final.[20]
