409 players to go under the hammer in first-ever WPL auction on February 13 as BCCI announces final player list
The auction for the inaugural edition of the Women's Premier League (WPL) is set to take place at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai on Monday, February 13 from 2.30 pm (IST).
The details regarding the much-awaited event were shared on the tournament's official Twitter handle on Tuesday, February 7. A total of 1525 players registered for the first-ever season of the WPL.
The five participating franchises have shortlisted 409 players from the list who will go under the hammer at the auction. Apart from 246 Indian players, there are 163 overseas cricketers, including eight players from associate nations, who will be up for grabs at the event.
Notably, the WPL is scheduled to kick off on March 4 and conclude on March 26. All 22 matches of the tournament will be played at the Brabourne Stadium and the D.Y. Patil Stadium in Mumbai.
Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, Sophie Devine and Ellyse Perry are amongst players who have slotted themselves in the highest bracket for WPL auction
The highest base price for the auction has been set at ₹50 lakh. Several Team India stars, including Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma, and Shafali Verma, have registered themselves in the highest bracket.
Overseas campaigners such as Ellyse Perry, Sophie Ecclestone, Sophie Devine, and Deandra Dottin are amongst the 24 players with ₹50 lakh as their base price for the WPL auction. Furthermore, there are 30 players with a base price of ₹40 lakh.
Teams from Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Mumbai, and Lucknow are set to take part in the auction as they look to build a formidable team for India's flagship T20 women's tournament. A maximum of 90 slots are available, with 30 of them available for overseas players.
Players with ₹50 lakh as their base price
Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma, Ellyse Perry, Sophie Ecclestone, Sophie Devine, Deandra Dottin, Natalie Sciver, Renuka Singh, Meg Lanning, Jemimah Rodrigues, Pooja Vastrakar, Danielle Wyatt, Richa Ghosh, Jess Jonassen, Sneh Rana, Sinalo Jafta, Katherine Brunt, Meghna Singh, Loryn Phiri, Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, and Alyssa Healy.