West Indian Deandra Dottin and Australia’s Kim Garth are the only two players to have opted for the highest reserve price of Rs. 50 lakh for the Women’s Premier League, to be held in Mumbai on December 9.
As many as 165 players will go under the hammer ahead of the second edition of the league. Of them, 104 are Indians; of the 61 overseas players, 15 are from associate nations. There are 56 capped players and 109 uncapped.
A total of 30 slots are available for the five franchises. Nine of those slots are for overseas players.
Four cricketers have put themselves in the Rs. 40 lakh bracket: Australians Annabel Sutherland and Georgia Wareham, England’s Amy Jones and South African Shabnam Ismail.
Meghna Singh, S. Meghana and Devika Vaidya are among the capped players from India; they have a price base of Rs. 30 lakh each, as has Sri Lankan captain Chamari Athapaththu, who had gone surprisingly unsold last season.
Dottin was bought by Gujarat Giants for Rs. 60 lakhs, but the franchise released her on medical grounds before the tournament started. She, however, disputed that claim.
The franchise replaced her with Garth. But she was among the 11 players released by Giants, which topped the list when the teams announced the list of players released and retained.
In all, 29 players were released by the franchises, while 60 were retained. Going into next week’s auction, Giants, which had finished last in the first edition of the league, has the largest purse — Rs. 5.95 crore.
Not surprisingly, Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals — the champion and the runner-up — have smaller purses, Rs. 2.25 crore and Rs. 2.1 crore, respectively.
Season 2 of the WPL is likely to be held in February.
