One Indian player each team should target at WPL 2025 Auction ft. Mumbai Indians and Sneh Rana
The Women’s Premier League (WPL 2025) auction will be held in Bengaluru on Sunday, December 15, with 120 players going under the hammer. While some teams managed to retain their core, a few will need to do some work to build a better and stronger squad.
Mumbai Indians (MI) and Delhi Capitals retained their core, keeping the majority of their playing XI intact. While they won’t have much to do at the auction and will look to fill their squad strength, other teams will have to aim for some top players to build their playing and bench strength.
That said, let’s look at one Indian player that each team should target at WPL 2025 auction:
Gujarat Giants: Tejal Hasabnis
Tejal S Hasabnis has been a part of the competitive setup for a long time now. Her efforts finally reaped rewards as she made her international debut for India during their recent ODI series against T20 world champions New Zealand.
In the domestic arena, she represents West Zone and Maharashtra and has performed consistently well for the two sides. She was also instrumental in India A team’s tour of Australia as she scored 166 runs in the three matches played, hitting half-centuries in all the games played. She recorded an average of 55.33.
Her outings during the Australia tour, where she batted at a strike rate of 75.79, impressed the selectors as she put up a strong impression in front of the selectors, thereby making her way into the Indian side.
Gujarat Giants (GG)'s batting strength has been questionable, especially in the middle order. Hence, they should look to add Hasabnis to their squad and strengthen their middle-order lineup.
UP Warriorz: Hurley Gala
All-rounder Hurley Gala represented the Gujarat Giants in the previous edition of the Women’s Premier League. She represents Mumbai in the domestic setup and is also a part of India’s U-19 squad, aged 18.
Starting her journey in sports with skating, Gala picked cricket ‘accidentally’ (as said in an interview with Female Cricket) and eventually played the game professionally. Gala won the historic U-19 World Cup with India in the tournament’s inaugural edition.
The teenage bowling sensation will be a great addition to the UP Warriorz squad. They released quite a few Indian players, with Parshavi Chopra, Laxmi Yadav and S Yashasri making that list. Hence, Gala would be a right fit in the camp.
Delhi Capitals: Nandini Kashyap
Nandini Kashyap is one name that’s on every cricket lover’s lips, everyone who follows women’s cricket. Her recent outings in the domestic circuit have been magnificent. She was 10th on the list of top run-scorers in the Senior Women’s One Day Trophy, with 199 runs to her name.
In the Senior Women’s T20 Challenger Trophy, Nandini Kashyap topped the scoreboard, with 332 runs in five matches. Her highest score in the tournament was a 94-run knock and she recorded an average of 83.00, with a strike rate of 137.19.
In the T20 tournament, the wicketkeeper-batter notched up four half-centuries in five games. Delhi Capitals have great depth in their batting, and Kashyap’s addition will all but strengthen their core. In the Senior Women's T20 Trophy, she finished as the third-highest run-scorer, with 247 runs in her bag from nine matches.
Mumbai Indians: Sneh Rana
Gujarat Giants releasing Sneh Rana from their squad came as the biggest shocker. One of the top players on the Indian side, Rana was expected to be a permanent in the GG squad, but the team did not retain her ahead of the auction.
Hence, Rana will be the top Indian name that’ll go under the hammer. One team that’d look to rope her in would be Mumbai Indians, the inaugural WPL champions, who released two Indian players in batter Priyanka Bala and all-rounder Humairaa Kaazi.
With a potential spot for an all-rounder vacant in the middle or lower-middle order, Sneh Rana would fit there brilliantly. They have three pacers in Shabnim Ismail, Nat Sciver-Brunt and Pooja Vastrakar, and will look to add a spin-bowling all-rounder to join Saika Ishaque.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Humairaa Kaazi
Humairaa Kaazi was released by the Mumbai Indians ahead of the WPL 2025 auction and will be a player to look out for. The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), who lifted the trophy in 2024, would not mind having an all-round option in their middle order.
RCB’s middle-order struggle was clear in the previous edition of the tournament, as Ellyse Perry did most of the work with the bat down the order. Though she hasn’t performed much in her WPL outings for MI, her recent performances in the domestic setup speak volumes.
She was the top run-scorer in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy, with 328 runs to her name in 11 matches, with a highest score of 76. She recorded a strike rate of 113.88 and an average of 36.44. She put up decent numbers in the Senior Women’s T20 Challenger Trophy too.
Kaazi can also act as the sixth bowling option for RCB, and will be a handy batter down the order. She’d be the right fit in the squad and the defending champions should look to get her into their squad.