Indian women’s team skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, her deputy Smriti Mandhana, and India’s U-19 World Cup-winning skipper Shafali Verma are among the 24 players who will command the highest base price of ₹50 lakhs at the upcoming Women’s Premier League auction.
A total of 409 top-class women cricketers will go under the hammer on February 13 at the auction for the inaugural edition of the WPL.
“The Women’s Premier League Player Auction list is out with a total of 409 cricketers set to go under the hammer at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai on February 13th, 2023,” the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said on February 7.
“A total of 1525 players registered for the inaugural Women’s Premier League Player Auction and the final list was pruned to 409 players,” it added.
“Out of 409 players, 246 are Indians and 163 are overseas players, of whom 8 are from associate nations. The total number of capped players is 202; uncapped players are 199; and eight are from associate nations,” the Board said.
Along with the trio, star all-rounder Deepti Sharma, medium pacer Renuka Singh, batter Jemimah Rodrigues, young wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh, and all-rounders Pooja Vastrakar, Sneh Rana and Meghna Singh are also in the top bracket.
Among the foreign stars, New Zealand’s Sophie Devine; England’s Sophie Ecclestone, Natalie Sciver, Dani Wyatt, and Katherine Brunt; Australia’s Ashleigh Gardner, Ellyse Perry, Meg Lanning, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, and Darcie Brown; the West Indies’ Deandra Dottin; South Africa’s Sinalo Jafta; and Zimbabwe’s Lorin Phiri will command the highest base price.
The inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League is set to be played in Mumbai from March 4 to 26, 2023. A total of 22 matches will be played at the Brabourne Stadium and the DY Patil Stadium.
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Apart from India, the auction list includes players from Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, the West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Ireland, and Zimbabwe. The list will have eight associate players from the UAE, Hong Kong, Thailand, the Netherlands and the USA. Each team can have a maximum of six overseas players.
Each of the five teams will have a budget of ₹12 crores to select their team. With the teams needing to choose a squad of 15 to 18 players, a maximum of 90 players will see their fortunes change. The auction will begin at 2.30 pm Indian time.
On January 25, the BCCI named Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, Royal Challengers Bangalore along with Adani Group and Capri Global as the five winners for the WPL teams based in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Lucknow respectively.
Meanwhile, Adani’s Gujarat Giants and Mumbai Indians have named a star-studded lineup as their respective coaching staffs.
Former Indian skipper Mithali Raj will mentor the Giants with former Australian vice-captain Rachel Haynes, India’s women’s world cup winning U-19 coach Nooshin Al Khadeer and Vadodara’s Tushar Arothe as their head coach, bowling coach and batting coach, respectively.
Meanwhile, former India and England skippers Jhulan Goswami and Charlotte Edwards will headline the Mumbai Indians coaching staff.