Asia

Women’s Premier League player auction: How the teams stack up

February 13, 2023
Henry Club

After a riveting auction, teams are finally all set for the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League.

Like the inaugural IPL auction, this auction too saw big names go for big money with analytics taking a back seat. The auction process saw some goof-ups, such as mispronunciations of names and the auctioneer using “batsman” instead of “batter” a fair few times.

With a purse of Rs 12 crore for each team, there was a fair amount of money to be spent . Smriti Mandhana was the first player to be bought in the auction and the most expensive buy, going for Rs 3.4 crore (28.3 per cent of the total purse) to the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Australian all-rounder Ashleigh Gardener was the most expensive overseas purchase, going to the Gujarat Giants for Rs 3.2 crore.

The following is a short summary of each team’s performance at the auction table and the strengths and weaknesses of the squad.

Delhi Capitals

Jemimah Rodrigues (220 lakh), Meg Lanning (110 lakh), Shafali Verma (200 lakh), Radha Yadav (40 lakh), Shikha Pandey (60 lakh), Marizanne Kapp (150 lakh), Titash Sadhu (25 lakh), Alice Capsey (75 lakh), Tara Norris (10 lakh), Laura Harris (10 lakh), Jasia Akhter (10 lakh), Minnu Mani (30 lakh), Tania Bhatia (30 lakh), Poonam Yadav (40 lakh), Jess Jonasson (50 lakh), Sneha Deepthi (30 lakh), Arundhati Reddy (30 lakh), Aparna Mondal (10 lakh)

Delhi was the last team to spend money in the auction but have ended up with some solid players. Overall, they have managed to build a team with a good mix of youth and experience but might have overspent on certain players.

Strength

Explosive batting. Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues were two of the best Indian top order batters in the auction. Add to that Australia’s ever-dependable World Cup winning captain Meg Lanning, DC’s top order is as good as it gets. In the middle order, DC have Marizanne Kapp and Alice Capsey who are elite at scoring runs rapidly.

Weakness

Bowling. Delhi’s bowling unit lacks consistent top level performers. In a tournament which is expected to be bowler-friendly, a lack of quality in the bowling department might hurt Delhi. Lots will be expected of Radha Yadav and Shikha Pandey, with under-19 star Titash Sadhu the X-factor.

Gujarat Giants

Ashleigh Gardner (320 lakh), Beth Mooney (200 lakh), Sophia Dunkley (60 lakh), Anabel Sutherland (70 lakh), Harleen Deol (40 lakh), Deandra Dottin (60 lakh), Sneh Rana (75 lakh), S Meghana (30 lakh), Georgia Wareham (75 lakh), Mansi Joshi (30 lakh), Monica Patel (30 lakh), Tanuja Kanwer (50 lakh), Sushma Verma (60 lakh), Hurley Gala (10 lakh), Ashwani Kumari (35 lakh), Shabnam MD (10 lakh).

The Giants were unable to get a marquee Indian name. They made up for it by amassing a depth of overseas talent. If the WPL did not have quotas for Indian players, Gujarat might have been the best team in the tournament. But as things stand, they will have to leave out some of their best players from the playing XI while picking unproven domestic talent.

Strength

Quality and depth of overseas talent. In Beth Mooney they have one of the most prolific batters currently who scores at a decent rate and also provides a keeping option. Ashleigh Gardner might just be the best T-20 player in the world right now, being absolutely elite with both bat and ball. With reliable performers such as Sophia Dunkley, Deandra Dottin, Georgia Wareham and Anabel Sutherland, Gujarat will rely on their overseas talent to step up and win games.

Weakness

Lack of proven Indian players. Over the years, IPL has shown that it is the quality of Indian players that often determines the success of a team. In this regard, Gujarat has major question marks. While in Sneh Rana, S Meghana, Harleen Deol and Sushma Verma, they have players at the fringes of the Indian team, they do not boast of a star Indian player. Only time will tell whether Mithali Raj’s strategy of picking players from the Railways will bear fruit.

Mumbai Indians

Harmanpreet Kaur (180 lakh), Nat Sciver-Brunt (300 lakh), Amelia Kerr (100 lakh), Pooja Vastrakar (190 lakh), Yastika Bhatia (150 lakh), Heather Graham (30 lakh), Issy Wong (30 lakh), Amanjot Kaur (50 lakh), Dhara Gujjar (10 lakh), Saika Ishaque (10 lakh), Hayley Matthews (40 lakh), Chloe Tryon (30 lakh), Humaira Kazi (10 lakh), Priyanka Bala (20 lakh), Sonam Yadav (10 lakh), Jintamani Kalita (10 lakh), Neelam Bisht (10 lakh).

Mumbai Indians almost seemed reluctant to raise the paddle at some points of time in the auction. While the match winners they possess still might help them win games, overall, Mumbai’s performance in the auction was a far cry from some of the IPL auctions the franchise has had in previous years. In fact, things were so chaotic, the auctioneer had to conduct a final round of auctioning just to allow Mumbai to buy the minimum number of players required.

Strength

Harmanpreet Kaur. Getting Harmanpreet Kaur for under Rs 2 crore was a steal. While she is over thirty years old, few players can still match the raw power she brings to the game. Her knock against Australia in the semi-final of the 2017 World Cup is one of the best innings ever played in cricket.

Weakness

Lots of base price players. Mumbai’s chaotic auction strategy (or lack thereof) means that they ended up overpaying for some players while shopping for bargains at the end of the auction. This has meant that overall, the squad looks weak, especially when compared to some of the other teams.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Smriti Mandhana (340 lakh), Sophie Devine (50 lakh), Elysse Perry (170 lakh), Renuka Singh (150 lakh), Richa Ghosh (190 lakh), Erin Burns (30 lakh), Disha Kasat (10 lakh), Indrani Roy (10 lakh), Shreyanka Patil (10 lakh), Kanika Ahuja (10 lakh), Asha Shobana (10 lakh), Heather Knight (40 lakh), Dane van Niekerk (30 lakh), Preeti Bose (30 lakh), Poonam Khemnar (10 lakh), Komal Zanzad (25 lakh), Megan Schutt (40 lakh), Sahana Pawar (10 lakh).

RCB went big early in the auction, snagging up Mandhana, Devine (an absolute steal at base price) and Perry from the first set of marquee players. Looking at their auction strategy, it seemed that they were very clear about the players they wanted and were not afraid of spending big to get them. While they did make some value acquisitions in the accelerated auction, notably Dane van Niekerk, the core of their team comprises big name, big money talents acquired early on in the process.

Strength

Top end talent. Mandhana is one of the most gifted cricketers of her generation, still only 26. In Perry and Devine, RCB have chosen two of the greatest athletes to ever play the game and two of women’s cricket’s biggest names. Richa Ghosh is India’s top wicket keeping prospect, still only 19 but with the capability of scoring rapidly in the middle order. Overall, the core of RCB’s team is fantastic with multiple match-winners.

Weakness

Depth. With RCB’s gung-ho approach early on, they have compromised on overall squad depth. This is especially true for Indian talent with many new faces bought. They especially lack a top Indian spinner, a player type that is expected to be extremely useful in the conditions.

UP Warriorz

Sophie Ecclestone (180 lakh), Deepti Sharma (260 lakh), Tahlia McGrath (140 lakh), Shabnim Ismail (100 lakh), Alyssa Healy (70 lakh), Anjali Sarwani (55 lakh), Rajeshwari Gayakwad (40 lakh), Parshavi Chopra (10 lakh), Shweta Sehrawat (40 lakh), S Yashasri (10 lakh), Kiran Navgire (30 lakh), Grace Harris (75 lakh), Devika Vaidya (140 lakh), D. Hemalatha (30 lakh), Lauren Bell (30 lakh), Lakshmi Yadav (10 lakh), Simran Shaikh (10 lakh).

Strength

Bowling. The UP Warriorz have amassed unbelievable bowling talent, from fast bowlers such as Shabnim Ismail and Tahlia McGrath to spinners such as Deepti Sharma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Sophie Ecclestone. They also have highly touted talents such as Parashvi Chopra and Anjali Sarwani.

Weakness

Batting. While they do have some quality all-rounders, Alyssa Healy will have to score a big chunk of runs for UP. That being said, if UP were going for a bowling heavy unit with run-scoring duties on a few reliable batters (aka the Sunrisers model from David Warner and Rashid Khan’s time), they have hit the nail on the head and head into the tournament as one of the favourites.