Garden City gets ready to host WPL mini auction

Cricket carnival: 120 players will go under the hammer on Sunday.
| Photo Credit: K. MURALI KUMAR

A total of 120 names will go under the hammer to fill all of 19 slots at the Women’s Premier League mini auction at the ITC Gardenia here on Sunday.

Among the 29 overseas players, England captain Heather Knight, West Indies all-rounder Deandra Dottin and South Africa’s Lizelle Lee have chosen the highest reserve price of ₹50 lakh. 

Other notable names include England’s Lauren Bell and Maia Bouchier, Australia’s Darcie Brown and Lauren Cheatle, and South Africa’s Nadine de Klerk – all in the ₹30 lakh bracket.

In the list of 91 Indians, there is expected to be keen interest for the likes of Sneh Rana (₹30 lakh), Poonam Yadav (30), Shubha Satheesh (30), Mansi Joshi (30) and Tejal Hasabnis (30).

Recent performers in domestic cricket like 16-year-old G. Kamalini, Raghvi Bist, Jagravi Pawar and Nandini Kashyap may attract attention.

Delhi’s Anshu Nagar, a 13-year-old left-arm seamer who caused a flutter in the women’s Delhi Premier League three months ago, is also in the mix.

For the third edition which is set to be held in early 2025, franchises will have a total kitty of ₹15 crore, up from ₹13.5 last year. Of this, Gujarat Giants, bottom-dweller both in 2023 and 2024, has the biggest purse of ₹4.4 crore. Delhi Capitals, twice runner-up, has the least amount to spend (₹2.5 crore).

Unlike IPL, WPL teams can have as many as five foreign players in the playing XI, provided one of them is from an associate nation. Samaira Dharnidharka and Theertha Satish from the United Arab Emirates, and Scotland’s Sarah Bryce can fill this slot for teams.

It will be particularly interesting to see how the Giants rebuild their bowling pack after having released Sneh Rana, Lea Tahuhu, Kathryn Bryce and Cheatle. Mumbai may look at some middle-order reinforcements to assist Harmanpreet Kaur and Nat Sciver-Brunt.

Defending champion Royal Challengers Bengaluru, the only side with no overseas vacancy, and Capitals appear more or less settled while UP Warriorz will hope for a quality replacement for Bell and a couple of solid Indian batters.

Auction starts at 3 p.m.