Women's Premier League: 409 players to go under hammer

A total of 409 cricketers will go under the hammer at the inaugural Women's Premier League auction with the likes of Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Alyssa Healy and Sophie Ecclestone keeping themselves in the highest base price bracket of Rs 50 lakh.

IPL chairman Arun Dhumal had told PTI on Monday that the entire 22 matches of the league will be held in Mumbai from March 4-26. The auction will be held in Mumbai on February 13.

Out of 409 players, 246 are Indians and 163 are overseas of which eight are from the associate nations.

The total capped players are 202, while 199 are uncapped and eight are from the associate nations.

A maximum of 90 slots are available with the five teams of which 30 are for overseas players.

Twenty four players have put themselves in the Rs 50 lakh base price category. Thirty players are in the auction list with a base price of Rs 40 lakh.

Besides India captain Harmanpreet, Mandhana and Australian star Healy and number one England spinner Ecclestone, the others in the highest base price bracket include U-19 World Cup winning captain Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Jemimah Rodrigues, England's Nat Sciver, Australia captain Meg Lanning among others.

India's U-19 stars, who won the World Cup in South Africa, will also be part of the action. They include uncapped Parshavi Chopra, Archana Devi, Titas Sadhu, Shweta Sehrawat and Mannat Kashyap (Rs 10 lakh base price for all).

"The Women's Premier League Player Auction list is out with a total of 409 cricketers set to go under the hammer at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai on February 13, 2023," said the BCCI in a release.

"A total of 1525 players registered for the inaugural Women's Premier League Player Auction & the final list was pruned to 409 players."

With the five teams sold for Rs 4669.99 crore and the BCCI selling the media rights for Rs 951 crore, the WPL is the second biggest T20 League in the world behind the Indian Premier League.

Apart from three IPL team owners -- Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals -- Capri Global Holdings (Lucknow) and the Adani Sportsline have bought the five franchises.

Each team will have a purse of Rs 12 crore at the players' auction and will need to buy a minimum of 15 players and maximum of 18. Up to five overseas players, including one from associate member country, will be allowed in the playing eleven.