At the WPL auction in Mumbai, the uncapped Indian duo of Kashvee Gautam and Vrinda Dinesh emerged victorious with bids of INR 1.3 crore (UP Warriorz) and INR 2 crore (Gujarat Giants), respectively.
The most expensive foreign player was Australia’s all-rounder Annabel Sutherland, who brought in a joint-highest price of INR 2 crore at the auction. Delhi Capitals spent 88.8% of their remaining INR 2.25 crore for her.
The fact that Sri Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu was left out for a second consecutive game was the biggest surprise. Along with not making it back into the expedited rounds of the auction, where teams nominated players from the initial unsold list of players, the WBBL MVP was the second-highest run scorer in the competition.
Only three players were in the top price range (INR 50 lakh), including Australia’s Kim Garth and former West Indies captain Deandra Dottin. These were two notable absences. The only Associate player selected by the Giants at the auction was Kathryn Bryce of Scotland, who was bid a base price of INR 10 lakh.
In the final rapid round of auctions, Veda Krishnamurthy (Giants) and S Meghana (RCB) went at base rates (INR 30 lakh) after finding no buyers early on. Among capped India players, Ekta Bisht attracted the highest bid (Royal Challengers Bangalore) at INR 60 lakh. Devika Vaidya, an all-round player who was anticipated to be highly sought after by clubs, was one of the major losses for India. The Warriorz, who had offered INR 1.6 crore for her before the first season, released her.
After unloading more than half of its roster, the Giants entered the auction with the largest purse in an intense auction where teams mostly sought to plug vacancies. After releasing Sutherland, Garth, Mansi Joshi, and Monica Patel, four seam-bowlers, they made a major effort to sign Chandigarh’s lanky 20-year-old seam-bowling all-rounder Kashvee.
Before Warriorz intervened at INR 75 lakh, Giants and RCB engaged in a fierce battle. They were for the deal until the very last minute, when the Giants beat them to sign Kashvee for a record INR 2 crore. To put things in perspective, Kashvee’s price was more than the INR 1.8 crore that Harmanpreet Kaur received at the first auction in February.
Not surprisingly, Kashvee was in high demand because talented seam-bowling all-rounders are hard to come by. Swing bowler Kashvee has tried to quicken her pace in response to criticism she received following her unsold first auction.
She took 12 wickets in seven games at the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy last month, with an economy rate of 4.14. She went on to play for India A in the just finished home series against England A after that. She competed for India’s Under-23 team in the ACC Emerging tournament in Hong Kong in June, where they won.
Similar to Kashvee, selectors and scouts have both been keeping an eye on Vrinda. Vrinda conducted trials with all five franchises in August. Before the Giants entered the fray to swiftly raise the bidding, the RCB, the team from her home state, raised the paddle first. However, Warriorz persevered and eventually signed her for INR 1.3 crore after entering the bidding at INR 65 lakh.
Vrinda has scored a lot of goals in the last two seasons and gained praise for her ability to combine reliability with strong offensive striking. Having recently been a member of the team that played three home games against England A, she has already made her way up through the ranks of India A at the age of 22.
She was instrumental in helping Karnataka go to the Senior Women’s One-Day Competition final earlier this year. With 477 runs in 11 innings at 47.70, she finished as the tournament’s fifth-highest run scorer, behind Jasia Akter and Priya Punia. Against Rajasthan in the semi-final, this included 81.
The first athlete up for grabs was Phoebe Litchfield of Australia, who signed a one-crore contract with the Giants. The left-hander, who initially gained notoriety on social media in 2019 at the age of 16, has been on a tear lately, completing the WBBL as its third-highest run scorer. During the T20I series in India last year, she started her international career and advanced swiftly.
Earlier this season, she had kept Grace Harris out of the Australian team. She was employed in the middle order, when she hit a record-tying eighteen-ball fifty against the West Indies. She received caps for the Test and ODI earlier this year.
Danni Wyatt of the Warriors and Kate Cross of the Royals were two more English players that jumped on the WPL bandwagon after the first season failed to attract much interest. Shabnim Ismail, a quickster from South Africa, was traded to the Mumbai Indians for INR 1.2 crore.
In February 2024, the second WPL season is scheduled to take place. For practical reasons, the first season was split among three locations in Mumbai. Mumbai and Bengaluru are reportedly in the running to host matches for the second edition, though the BCCI hasn’t decided on those locations yet.
