Women's Premier League: What the franchises said after inaugural player auction

The five franchises are all set for the inaugural season of the new league.

After an eventful player auction for the Women's Premier League (WPL), the five franchises are all set for the inaugural season of the new league scheduled to begin this March.

Women cricketers during the first auction of WPL saw strong bidding from the five teams including Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, Gujarat Giants, Royal Challengers Bangalore and UP Warriorz.

"It was overwhelming to see everyone cheering and celebrating the wonderful talent of women cricketers,” said Nita Ambani, owner of Mumbai Indians (MI). She said that the franchise is happy with the way the auction panned out. "We are very happy to get the Indian captain at Mumbai Indians." The franchise won the bid for Harmanpreet Kaur, captain of the India Women's National Cricket Team in all formats, for Rs 1.8 crore.

“I have seen Rohit (Sharma) grow from a player to captain at Mumbai Indians and this year, we complete 10 years of Rohit as a captain for Mumbai Indians. We are now welcoming Harman (Harmanpreet Kaur) to the MI family,” said Ambani. She drew parallels between the two captains. “Both of them come with great experience, professionalism and a winning mentality. They are a huge inspiration to all our youngsters. So, we are really excited to have both these players.”

Other big buys by MI were Natalie Sciver for Rs 3.2 crore, and Pooja Vastrakar for Rs 1.9 crore.

Mumbai Indians has got on board Mahela Jayawardene as global head of performance, and the newly-formed coaching team for the women’s team includes Charlotte Edwards as head coach, Jhulan Goswami as team mentor and bowling coach and Devieka Palshikaar as batting coach.

Another franchise Delhi Capitals also had an action-packed auction, said the team's owners. "We had a very good auction, with the right blend of young and experienced players in the squad. I am very excited about the Indian players that we have managed to pick. And, also excited to get the most renowned foreign players into the squad," said Delhi Capitals' Chairman & Co-owner Parth Jindal.

The JSW and GMR co-owned Delhi Capitals franchise bagged batter Jemimah Rodrigues for Rs 2.2 crore and all-rounders Radha Yadav at Rs 40 lakh and Shikha Pandey for Rs 60 lakh along with the U-19 Women T20 World Cup winners Shafali Verma at Rs 2 core and Titas Sadhu for Rs 25 lakh. Delhi Capitals also picked up Australia Women's team Captain Meg Lanning for Rs 1.1 core and South African all-rounder Marizanne Kapp at Rs 1.5 crore.

"Our go-to player was Kapp and we got her. Mainly we are sorted with our core of Indian players, we are concentrating more on the bowlers as well. It is going to be a great platform for all the women youngsters. As we have seen in the men's team, we have always backed youngsters and we are going to do the same here as well," said Delhi Capitals' co-owner GM Ruchir.

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) which made the highest bid during the WPL player auction for Smriti Mandhana at Rs 3.4 crore said that the team took an aggressive approach.

“Buying a women’s team was always on the cards for RCB and we started putting the puzzles together months in advance before WPL team tender. Appointing former India cricketer Vanitha VR as our scout was a key in that process. While there was lack of readily available data on women’s cricket, we put the prospective players through multiple scouting layers before we shortlisted the top 100 names," said Prathmesh Mishra, Chairman, RCB.

Smriti Mandhana was at the centre of this plan, he added.

Along with the teams that are part of men's Indian Premier League (IPL), the two new franchises, Gujarat Giants and UP Warriorz, also made strong bids at the WPL auction.

After a heated bidding war, the Gujarat Giants opened their account with the pick of Australian all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner for Rs 3.2 crore, who was among the top buys at WPL auction 2023.

“This marks a new beginning for all of us associated with the Adani Sportsline-owned Gujarat Giants. My team and I are thrilled to leave the table feeling delighted with the squad we have put together. With all our bases covered, from here onwards we begin our preparation for the upcoming tournament,” said Mithali Raj, mentor, and advisor for Gujarat Giants.

Australian Beth Mooney came in for Rs 2 crore for the Giants next and the team's first Indian pick was Harleen Deol.

“As our first foray into the Women’s Premier League, the Gujarat Giants’ squad has the potential to leave an indelible mark on the matches ahead. The Giants have some of the finest coaches and mentor on board to ensure that the team carves a niche for themselves. As the eventful auction has come to an end, I’m really looking forward to the games,” said Satyam Trivedi, Head, Adani Sportsline.

Franchise UP Warriorz was the fastest to react when Deepti Sharma’s name came out of the bag, making her the most expensive player in the squad at Rs 2.6 crore. Sharma, who hails from the city of Agra, was the franchise's first Indian pick at the auction.

The franchise also swooped in to secure the services of Parshavi Chopra at Rs 10 lakh, who comes from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh.

Disclaimer: Moneycontrol is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.