Mumbai: Prolific batters Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur and teen sensation Shafali Verma are expected to spark bidding wars when they go under the hammer during the inaugural Women's Premier League auction, here on Monday. Among the overseas names, Alyssa Healy, Beth Mooney, Elysse Perry, Nat Sciver, Megan Schutt and Deandra Dottin are some of the big names expected to enjoy a big pay day.
The five teams -- Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, RCB, Gujarat Giants and UP Warriorz -- will be bidding for 90 players in a list of 409. With a salary purse of Rs 12 crore per team for the first year and a squad size of 18 including six overseas players, at least 20 to 25 of the 60 Indian women set to be picked will command good auction price. The base prices are set in five brackets with the least being Rs 10 lakh and the highest Rs 50 lakh. The other brackets are Rs 20, 30 and 40 lakh, respectively.
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It is expected that members of this current Indian team and those from Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa will be the most sought after players at the auction. If some officials associated with the franchises are to be believed, Smriti, Shafali, Harmanpreet and all-rounder Deepti Sharma are set to earn anywhere between Rs 1.25 to 2 crore from teams that successfully bid for them.
Big hitter Richa Ghosh and seamer Renuka Thakur will also invoke a lot of interest from potential bidders. So will the spinners like Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Radha Yadav, and seamers Meghana Singh and Shikha Pandey. Jemimah Rodrigues, who has had a good run in foreign T20 leagues, could also be a big earner during the auction. In the uncapped Indian players' category, Kashmir's Jasia Akhtar and Railways' Swagatika Rath are some of the prominent names expected to get richer by the end of the auction.
Among the U-19 World Cup-winning women's team, batter Shweta Sehrawat, spinners Parshavi Chopra, Mannat Kashyap and Archana Devi along with seamer Titas Sadhu are expected to attract good bids. The five franchises will look at potential captains and, apart from Smriti and Harman, some of the other likely captaincy candidates are legendary Southern Stars boss Meg Lanning, England skipper Heather Knight and White Ferns leader Sophie Devine, all of whom have put their names in the list.
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Speaking ahead of the historic day for Indian cricket, Delhi Capitals head coach Jonathan Batty said, "We are very excited about the WPL auction. We have worked on our strategy for the auction. We have a lot of people in the Delhi Capitals staff, who have worked on numerous IPL auctions. We are using their knowledge."
Key Figures of Auction
Teams: 5
Names: DC, MI, RCB, Gujarat Giants, UP Warriorz
Minimum Salary Mandatory: Rs 9 crore
Maximum Salary purse/team: Rs 12 crore
Minimum Squad Strength Mandatory: 15
Maximum Squad Strength: 18
Maximum India players in squad: 12
Maximum Overseas players/squad: 6
Total number of players available: 409
Indian players for auction: 246
Foreign players from Full members: 155
Players from Associate Nations: 8
Name of auctioneer: Malika Sagar
Nb: A team can field five foreign players in playing XI if the fifth player is from Associate nation. (PTI)
