On December 9, 2023, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) held the Women’s Premier League (WPL) auction in Mumbai ahead of the 2024 WPL season.
A total of 30 slots were up for grabs, with 165 players being part of the auction pool. The Gujarat Giants went with a bigger purse in the auction and filled their 10 empty slots.
In this year’s auction, teams engaged in bidding wars for uncapped Indian players like Kashvee Gautam and Vrinda Dinesh. The Giants bought Kashvee Gautam for a whopping Rs. 2 crore, making her the most expensive uncapped player in WPL history. Vrinda Dinesh, on the other hand, found her place in the UP Warriorz squad at Rs. 1.3 crore.
Before that, Australia’s Phoebe Litchfield became the first player to go under the hammer as the Giants snapped her for Rs. 1 crore. Another Aussie player, Annabel Sutherland, fetched Rs. 2 crore as the Delhi Capitals acquired her services.
Apart from these players, South Africa’s pacer Shabnim Ismail was the only player to get a winning bid in crores. Ismail was sold to the Mumbai Indians for Rs. 1.2 crore.
Since this was a mini-auction many prominent players didn’t get any bids from the franchises and remained unsold.
You can have a look at all the complete squads after the WPL 2024 auction.
Delhi Capitals
Retained players: Meg Lanning (c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Marizanne Kapp, Shafali Verma, Shikha Pandey, Alice Capsey, Arundhati Reddy, Jess Jonassen, Laura Harris, Minnu Mani, Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav, Sneha Deepthi, Taniyaa Bhatia, Titas Sadhu
Auction picks: Annabel Sutherland, Aparna Mondal, Ashwani Kumari
Remaining purse: Rs. 5 Lakh
Gujarat Giants
Retained players: Ashleigh Gardner, Beth Mooney, Sneh Rana, Dayalan Hemalatha, Harleen Deol, Laura Wolvaardt, Shabnam Shakil, Tanuja Kanwer
Auction picks: Phoebe Litchfield, Meghna Singh, Trisha Poojitha, Kashvee Gautam, Priya Mishra, Lauren Cheatle, Kathryn Bryce, Mannat Kashyap, Veda Krishnamurthy, Tarannum Pathan
Remaining purse: Rs. 1.45 crore
Mumbai Indians
Retained players: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Hayley Matthews, Natalie Sciver, Amanjot Kaur, Amelia Kerr, Chloe Tryon, Humairaa Kaazi, Isabelle Wong, Jintimani Kalita, Pooja Vastrakar, Priyanka Bala, Saika Ishaque, Yastika Bhatia
Auction picks: Shabnim Ismail, Amandeep Kaur, S Sajana, Fatima Jaffer, Keerthana Balakrishnan
Remaining purse: Rs. 45 lakh
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Retained players: Smriti Mandhana (c), Ellyse Perry, Heather Knight, Asha Shobana, Disha Kasat, Indrani Roy, Kanika Ahuja, Renuka Singh, Richa Ghosh, Shreyanka Patil, Sophie Devine
Auction picks: Georgia Wareham, Kate Cross, Ekta Bisht, Shubha Satheesh, Sabbhineni Meghana, Simran Bahadur, Sophie Molineux
Remaining purse: Rs. 1.05 crore
UP Warriorz
Retained players: Alyssa Healy (c), Tahlia McGrath, Anjali Sarvani, Deepti Sharma, Grace Harris, Kiran Navgire, Lauren Bell, Laxmi Yadav, Parshavi Chopra, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, S. Yashasri, Shweta Sehrawat, Sophie Ecclestone,
Auction picks: Dani Wyatt, Vrinda Dinesh, Saima Thakor, Poonam Khemnar, Gouher Sultana
Remaining purse: Rs. 1.90 crore
