After a retention window where the five Women’s Premier League franchises chose to retain a majority of their players, one of the surprises was the release of India international Sneh Rana by Gujarat Giants. The bottom-placed team in the first two editions were already paying the price for not picking a strong Indian core before the inaugural season and now they parted ways with a player who was their stand-in captain on a few occasions. They had also controversially replaced Deandra Dottin, the West Indies superstar all rounder who wasn’t pleased with how she was let go after getting picked up in the first auction.
Now, Rana and Dottin would both be hoping to find a new home with a point to prove, as the auction for the third WPL season takes place in Bengaluru on Sunday.
With only 19 slots to be filled across the five franchises, this auction is expected to be a short and largely uneventful one. But not without intrigue. Among the international stars to watch out for apart from the explosive Dotting, there is England captain Heather Knight who was released by RCB and a couple of fine Aussie talents in Darcie Brown and Amanda Jade-Wellington, who have missed out so far in featuring in the league. Scotland wicketkeeper Sarah Bryce could be an interesting pick for teams, especially Delhi Capitals, because as an associate nation player, she can slot in as the fifth overseas option in an XI.
But as is the case with any of these auctions, the stories tend to lie amid the uncapped Indian uncapped players. Three of those – Nandini Kashyap, Raghvi Bist from Uttarakhand and Pratika Rawal of Railways – have earned their call-ups to the Indian team to face West Indies from Sunday onward, less than 48 hours before the auction.
Nandini, a 21-year-old wicketkeeper, was the leading run scorer in the T20 Challenger Trophy and was third highest in the Women’s T20 Trophy, striking at 137.19 and 125.38 respectively in those two tournaments. That included a 117 not out off 61 balls against Pondicherry. Raghvi, a 20-year-old allrounder, was impressive on India A’s tour of Australia and had a strike rate between 120 and 130 in the two domestic T20 tournaments. Pratika, who has been called up for the ODIs against West Indies, was the sixth highest run-getter in the Challengers, with a highest of 70 off 53 balls. Humairaa Kazi, who was released by Mumbai Indians, could also potentially find a new home. She was the leading run-scorer for Mumbai as they won back-to-back domestic T20 titles, scoring 328 runs in 11 matches at a strike rate of 113.88.
If there is to be one criticism of the first two WPL seasons, then it is that uncapped Indian players – though impressive in flashes – haven’t always had consistent opportunities and/or performances. So it would be interesting to see how teams approach this group of players. Among capped Indians, apart from Rana, recent debutant Tejal Hasabnis – who played in the ODIs against New Zealand – could be one to keep an eye on.
Defending champions RCB have already made a strong off-season move to bring in star England opener Danni Wyatt in a trade and have only domestic shopping to do. Delhi Capitals are perhaps the most consistent side across two seasons, but have fallen short twice in finals so they’d hope to plug holes in their squad – a power-hitting wicketkeeper, especially – to cross the finish line. MI have a strong looking squad again, but would look for a middle-order batting option. For UP, stronger Indian batting options are a must.
GG have plenty of work to do after disappointing in the first two seasons with bottom-placed finishes, and overhauling their backroom staff after letting go of their mentor Mithali Raj. Giants are the only team to have not made the playoffs in either of the first two editions. In terms of purse remaining, Giants have the most funds to work with.
From the list of 124 players, there are 95 Indian and 29 overseas cricketers, including 3 from associate nations. The list includes 82 Indian uncapped players and 8 uncapped overseas players.
Gujarat Giants purse: ₹4.40 crore (4 slots remaining, 2 overseas)
UP Warriorz purse: ₹3.90 crore (3 slots remaining, 1 overseas)
Royals Challengers Bengaluru purse: ₹3.25 crore (4 slots, 0 overseas)
Mumbai Indians purse: ₹2.65 crore (4 slots, 1 overseas)
Delhi Capitals purse: ₹2.50 crore (4 slots, 1 overseas)
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