The idea of an Women’s Premier League (WPL) was doing the rounds for quite some time and after an official confirmation from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the auction for the tournament will be finally held on February 13. Given the success of the men’s Indian Premier League (IPL), there are plenty of expectations from the Women’s Premier League (WPL) as well which is expect to unearth plenty of new talent for India’s women’s cricket.
409 players will go under the hammer at the Jio World Convention Centre on Monday. While all the five franchises have a tough task ahead of them to build an entire team from a purse of Rs 12 crore, overall, 24 players will enter the auction at a base price of Rs 50 lakhs. These include star Indian performers Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma and Jemimah Rodrigues.
One of the biggest names entering the auction is England’s left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone, who is currently the best spinner in women’s cricket. Many Australian players would also be on the radar of the franchise owners, including Ellyse Perry; Alyssa Healy, Tahlia McGrath, skipper Meg Lanning, Beth Mooney.
Each franchise needs to have at least 15 players in the squad and can have a maximum number of 18 players. The franchises are allowed to buy six overseas players, where one needs to be from an associate nation. During matches, teams can field four overseas players and can increase the number to five if the fifth player is from an associate nation.In a video posted on Twitter, star Indian batter Mandhana said she is excited to see how will the WPL auction unfold.
“Very excited for the WPL auction. It’s a big moment for women’s cricket. I always watched men’s IPL and auction and I am really excited that how it will unfold. Hope it goes well, all teams are well-balanced and hopefully, I get a good team,” the left-handed opener said.
