Cricket surprises. So could its auction for players.
The mini auction for Season 2 of the Women’s Premier League produced quite a few surprises here on Saturday. Two uncapped Indians got paychecks they may not have quite dreamt of, while some of the biggest names in the game had no takers.
Kashvee Gautam, a 20-year-old seamer from Chandigarh, was bought for ₹2 crore by Gujarat Giants. It may be recalled that India captain Harmanpreet Kaur was picked up by Mumbai Indians for ₹1.8 crore at the inaugural auction early this year.
Kashvee wasn’t the only lesser-known Indian youngster to become considerably richer overnight. Vrinda Dinesh, an opener from Karnataka, was bagged by UP Warriorz for ₹1.3 crore.
The bigger surprise was Chamari Athapaththu, the Sri Lankan captain who entered the auction after being named the best player of the Women’s Big Bash League only a fortnight ago, going unsold, despite a base price of ₹30 lakhs. West Indian Deandra Dottin and Australian Kim Garth, who both set their value at the top end of ₹50 lakh too didn’t interest any of the five franchises.
But, Garth’s compatriot Annabel Sutherland certainly did. Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals, the two clubs that came with the lowest purses – hardly surprising as they are the reigning champion and runner-up – entered a bidding war. It was eventually won by Delhi Capitals, which secured the 22-year-old all-rounder’s services for ₹2 crore (against a base price of ₹40 lakh), making her the most expensive player along with Kashvee.
Mumbai Indians also made a smart buy in the form of the South African quick, Shabnim Ismail for $1.2 crore. She had been released by UP Warriorz.
The only other player to touch the one crore mark was the 20-year-old batter Australian Phoebe Litchfield, who was bought by Gujarat Giants. Against a base price of ₹30 lakh, she got ₹1 crore.
Royal Challengers Bangalore was the only franchise that didn’t spend ₹1 crore or more on a player. Its biggest buy was the veteran India left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht – for ₹60 lakh. For half that price, Warriorz got England’s star batter Danni Wyatt, easily among the best buys of the day.
Kashvee and Vrinda may have become the stars among the uncapped Indians, but the auction brought joy for a few others like Subha Satheesh, Saima Thakor, S. Sajana, Keerthana B, Ashwani Kumari, Amandeep Kaur, Mannat Kashyap and Fatima Jaffer. Once again the strongest foreign flavour at the auction was Australian. No surprise there.
