NEW DELHI: It was an evening where Indian all-rounders and pacers hit a massive pay-day as teams looked to rebuild their Women’s Premier League (WPL) teams for the next two-year cycle. And among the top earners were Deepti Sharma, Amelia Kerr and Shikha Pandey.
Sharma, the most valuable Indian all-rounder at the moment, was initially released by UP Warriorz only to get her back using a Right To Match for a whopping ₹3.2 crore. Initially, she was signed by Delhi Capitals for the base price of ₹50L who then set the price for which UP agreed. This signing makes Deepti the highest paid player of the auction on Thursday and second-highest paid Indian player ever in the WPL.
Meanwhile, Pandey, who has been the best Indian pacer in the first three seasons of WPL, was signed by Warriorz for ₹2.4 crore. New Zealand all-rounder Amelia Kerr was signed once again by Mumbai Indians for a massive ₹3 crore – highest for a player in their side.
The above signings were only indicative of how the auction went where proven India internationals were in demand especially among teams with bigger purse — UP and Gujarat Giants. The two teams went big on the Indian players who had proved themselves in the first three years of WPL while Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals struggled to keep up with the rising price especially after spending big money on the players they wanted. If it was Kerr for MI, Delhi spent ₹2.6 crore on NR Sree Charani and Chinelle Henry from the ₹5.7 crore they had coming into the auction after five retentions. For the two-time champions and three-time runner-ups, the focus was on getting a strong first XI and then bank on back-ups which is exactly what they ended up doing. Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who retained four players, had a good outing, strengthening their bench and bowling strength with smart picks like Radha Yadav, Arundhati Reddy, and Pooja Vastrakar, along with strong overseas signings like Nadine de Klerk and Grace Harris. “We were quite heavy with kind of batting retention, and I think you saw our strategy in there to get most bowlers over the line. Happy with a lot of options,” Anya Shrubsole, RCB assistant coach said.
Meanwhile, UP who came in with ₹14.75 crore got the big names like Meg Lanning, Phoebe Litchfield, Deandra Dottin, Chloe Tryon, Sophie Ecclestone while backing it up with Indian signings like Shikha Pandey, Deepti, Kranti Gaud and Asha Sobhana. Gujarat Giants, too, made the most of the purse they had going back with a better squad than they came in with.
While Pratika Rawal was signed by UP last minute, one of the biggest talking points coming out of the auction was how Alana King and Alyssa Healy missed out getting picked at the auction. The two Australians, last played for UP, did not get a single bid, with the leggie being brought up twice as well. UP Warriorz head coach Abhishek Nayyar and DC head coach Jonathan Batty explained that auction dynamics and number of overseas players limit are such that sometimes even the big players tend to miss out based on where they come in an auction.
In the end, that is what makes the mega auction what it is. One that evens out the strengths of teams and gives them a chance to rebuild. As soon as the final bidding was over, that is exactly what teams would have thought, especially UP and GG — the two teams who struggled after a poor auction in the first cycle. “I think if you look at a five team league that there should be pretty good synergy across all teams and obviously for the benefit of the league that having five equally balanced teams is really, really good,” Batty explained after the auction.