The five franchises - Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, Gujarat Giants, Royal Challengers Bangalore and UP Warriorz - will have to put their thinking caps on when they walk into the Jio World Convention Centre on Monday afternoon for the maiden Women’s Premier League (WPL) auction.
Of the five, three franchises are already accustomed to the IPL auction dynamics, whereas the two new entrants - Gujarat Giants, owned by the Adanis, and UP Warriorz, owned by Capri Global - also have a fair understanding of cricket auctions, thanks to their investments in the other overseas leagues.
But this being the first auction of a women’s franchise league, equations are likely to be different as a total of 448 cricketers will go under the hammer - of which 269 are Indians and 179 are overseas (19 of which are from the associate nations).
There are 90 slots to be filled - 30 of which need to be for overseas players - and it needs to be seen what strategy the franchises adapt to fill their rosters. Firstly, all five teams would be hoping to pick a captain - preferably Indian - and build the team around her. Secondly, given the fact that 24 players have put themselves in the Rs 50 lakh base price category and 30 are in the base price of Rs 40 lakh, the franchises need to think wisely to make sure that each of them have at least 15 players in their squad. According to the guidelines issued by the Board, the maximum squad size should be restricted to 18 and franchises can buy six overseas players, so spending the purse wisely and smartly will be the key for all the five franchises.
Sportstar understands that at least three of the five franchises want to have an India international as their captain, thus it’s not even a surprise that Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma and Jemimah Rodrigues would be much sought-after names in the auction. Several franchise insiders indicated that having an ‘Indian captain will make a lot of impact on the team as the fans would automatically relate to the franchise, which will help in carving out a niche’. With India U-19 team winning the inaugural edition of the Women’s U-19 World Cup last month, the focus has also shifted towards the uncapped Indian players and the buzz is that Titas Sadhu, Shweta Sehrawat, Soumya Tiwari, Parshavi Chopra, Gongadi Trisha, Mannat Kashyap - all of who have a base price of Rs 10 lakh - are likely to draw heavy bidding from multiple franchises.
While Indian cricketers will be the automatic choice for the franchises, players from Australia and England will also be in high demand. With the likes of Nat Sciver, Australia captain Meg Lanning, Alyssa Healy in the auction, the franchises will have lots to choose from. South African Marizanne Kapp or New Zealand’s Sophie Devine and Amelia Kerr are also the noted names, who could draw interest from the franchises.
Unlike the inaugural edition of the men’s IPL in 2008, where most franchises looked lost initially amid the glitzy names, ahead of the inaugural edition of WPL, the five outfits look sorted and clear in their planning. Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Giants have roped in two Indian legends - Jhulan Goswami and Mithali Raj - as their mentors respectively, whereas U-19 World Cup-winning coach Nooshin Al Khadeer, Hemlata Kala, Anju Jain, Biju George are some of the seasoned names that have been roped in by the franchises to boost their outfits.
And, franchises like Royal Challengers Bangalore started the scouting process way back in October by roping in former India batter V.R. Vanitha as its key talent scout. Over the last few months, Vanitha was a regular in all women’s fixtures across the country along with a few of her former teammates, who are associated with other franchises. The franchises are confident that all the ‘back-end work’ will pay dividends in the auction.
The five franchises had to put the support staff in place in a really short time and had to ensure that they get the big names on board, but calling it a ‘teething trouble’, the franchises are confident of making the right choices from the auction.
“We will obviously be a little bit fluid in terms of how the auction strategy goes. But we’re very clear around what our primary targets are and then also, how we’re going to structure the balance of the squad. So, a lot of work has gone into it,” RCB’s director of cricket Mike Hesson said in a video posted by the franchise on its social media platforms.
Moving on from an overseas auctioneer - as has been the tradition in the IPL, except for the 2022 edition when Charu Sharma had to step in for Hugh Edmeades, who had fallen ill - the BCCI has roped in Mallika Sagar as the auctioneer for the WPL. A specialist in modern and contemporary Indian art, Sagar had conducted the Pro Kabaddi League auction in 2021 and the Board hopes that with a woman auctioneer at the helm, the auction process would garner more attention among the fans and the audience, who would be watching it live on telephones or via apps.
When the auction gets underway, India international Latika Kumari will be the oldest player at 41, whereas uncapped Vinny Suzan, Shabnam MD and Sonam Yadav - all 15-year-olds - will be the youngest cricketers to go under the hammer.
Comments
SHARE