In a surprising announcement on January 24 BCCI Lucknow has been officially rejected as a venue for the current edition Women’s Premier League (WPL). BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia It confirmed that the tournament would be restricted to Navi Mumbai and Vadodara in a two-venue ‘caravan’ model, citing logistical hurdles and a history of disappointing fans in the Uttar Pradesh capital.
BCCI ditches Ekana Stadium for Women’s cricket and WPL: Reasons behind decision
According to Sportstar, the BCCI has revealed that the decision to drop Lucknow’s Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium is due to the city’s inability to attract enough crowds for women’s cricket. Saikia was candid in her assessment“There is always a lack of crowd for women’s cricket. Even for IPL matches, (Lucknow) has less crowd than other venues. So we are not asking Lucknow to host women’s events because we want people to come and enjoy the game.”
This comes as a big blow to the movement UP Warriorsfor the second year in a row, home advantage has been virtually denied. Saikia also mentioned that Delhi is currently gearing up for the upcoming T20 World Cup as it has left the board with very few suitable options to match with the franchise territories.
“Earlier we held the tournament at four venues, Delhi, Lucknow, Vadodara and Navi Mumbai. But this time we are doing it at only two venues because Delhi will host the T20 World Cup, while there are issues with Lucknow.” Saikia added.
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Two location strategies for WPL 2026
The BCCI announced that Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium and Vadodara’s Kotambi Stadium will serve as the exclusive hosts for the 22-match tournament to ensure logistical efficiency. Highlighting the success of the DY Patil Stadium in the 2025 Women’s World Cup final, Saikia noted that “So we were left with very few options. Vadodara is a beautiful venue and on the other hand we saw the crowd response and the conditions for the Women’s World Cup final at the DY Patil Stadium. It was great. These two venues are also logistically beneficial for us.”
While fans in Kolkata and Chennai have also been vocal about wanting the match, the BCCI has clarified that the matches cannot be held in the cities without a dedicated WPL franchise. However, Saikia promised it, offering a glimmer of hope for the future “Otherwise, we have very limited states because we have to look at the territory of those franchises. We can’t have a match in Kolkata or Chennai because none of those cities have a WPL franchise. So all other states are also excluded.” points to further expansion as the league adds more teams to its roster.
This article was originally published here WomenCricket.coma Cricket Times company.
