The BCCI is planning to start the Women’s IPL by 2023, Board President Sourav Ganguly said on Friday while four exhibition games make a return this season after a one-year gap. The BCCI, which has been criticised in the past for not starting the Women’s IPL, will need AGM’s approval to kickstart the league next season.

The Board is planning to have five or six teams in the inaugural edition. All the existing 10 men’s IPL franchises will be given the first right of refusal to buy the Women’s IPL teams. It is learnt that at least four men’s IPL franchises are interested in knowing from the BCCI what is on the table in case they want to invest in a women’s IPL. “It [the full-fledged women’s IPL] has to be approved by the AGM. We plan to start it by next year hopefully,” Ganguly told reporters after the IPL Governing Council meeting in Mumbai on Friday.