WPL 2024 auction: Uncapped Indians Kashvee Gautam, Vrinda Dinesh break bank

In the second round of the Women's Premier League auction, India's uncapped batters Kashvee Guatam and Vrinda Dinesh broke the banks after getting sold for Rs 2 crores to Gujarat Giants and Rs 1.3 crores for UP Warriorz respectively.

Mumbai:Punjab pacer Kashvee Gautam fetched a winning bid of Rs 2 crore from Gujarat Giants at the Women's Premier League (WPL) auction here on Saturday. The 20-year-old's base price was Rs 10 lakh. Both Gujarat Giants and UP Warriorz bid for Kashvee before the former managed to secure her services for the second edition of WPL.

In another big payday for an uncapped Indian cricketer, UP Warriorz bid Rs 1.3 crore for 22-year-old Karnataka batter Vrinda Dinesh. Both Vrinda and Kashvee had recently featured for India A in their three-match series against England A.

Vrinda Dinesh:Vrinda has got the results of her consistency with her robust power-hitting at the top and her perseverance. At 22, she has already broken through the ranks of India A, having recently been part of the squad that played three home games against England A.

In June, Vrinda first came into light when she was part of the victorious India Under-23 squad that featured in the ACC Emerging Teams Cup in Hong Kong. After not getting selected in the initial squad, Vrinda knocked on the selector's doors with compelling performances which fortunately helped her to get a place as a replacement for the injured fast bowler S Yashashri.

Vrinda idolizes Australia's former skipper Meg Lanning and has attended trials conducted by all five WPL franchises during the off-season. Earlier this year, she finished as the third-highest run-getter, behind Jasia Akter and Priya Punia, with 477 runs in 11 innings at 47.70 during the domestic tournament.

Kashvee Gautam:Along with being a right-arm seamer, Kashvee Gautam also possesses the ability to hit the ball hard. Kashvee came to limelight when she recorded her name in history books in 2020 after claiming a ten-wicket haul, including a hat-trick, in a one-day game for Chandigarh against Arunachal Pradesh at the women's domestic Under-19 competition. This outstanding performance led to a call-up for one of the teams in the now-erstwhile Women's T20 Challenge.

Kashvee is a tall hit-the-deck bowler, who has been working on increasing her pace after last year's WPL auction where she went unsold. At the Senior Women's T20 Trophy, she picked up 12 wickets in seven games at an economy of 4.14. More recently, she was part of two games during the A series, picking up three wickets.

Coming to the auction, in the early stages, after being released from the squad, Australian cricketers attracted the highest bids with all-rounder Annabel Sutherland being sold to Delhi Capitals for Rs 2 crore and opening batter Phoebe Litchfield to Gujarat Giants for Rs 1 crore. South Africa pacer Shabnim Ismail was added to the Mumbai Indians squad for Rs 1.20 crore, three times her base price. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) went for Australia's leg spinner Georgia Wareham in the earlier stages of the auction, paying Rs 40 lakh for the deal. RCB also bought England's Kate Cross for Rs 30 lakh and the 37-year-old Indian spinner Ekta Bisht for Rs 60 lakh, two times her base price.