WPL | 409 players make the cut for inaugural auction on February 13

The Board of Control for Cricket in India confirmed speculations on Tuesday that the player's auction for the first edition of the Women's Premier League would take place at the Jio World Convention Center in Mumbai on February 13, less than 20 days before the tournament is scheduled to begin on March 4. The league, expected to revolutionize women's cricket, would feature 26 matches all of which would take place at the DY Patil Stadium and Brabourne Stadium with March 26 decided as the date of the final. A total of 409 players would go under the hammer having varying base prices from INR 10 lakh to INR 50, including 246 Indian cricketers and 163 foreigners., after the cricketing authority shortlisted candidates from a potential pool of 1,525 players.

The five franchises, namely Gujarat, Lucknow, Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad, would have to assemble squads of at least 15 players while 18 is the maximum limit. No team would be allowed to have more than six foreign players in their squad, offering little flexibility given the sides can play with up to five players from abroad as long as at least one of them belongs to an associate nation. The sides, which in total were bought for a whopping amount of 4667.99 crores, are expected to have a purse of INR 12 crores albeit the BCCI is yet to offer confirmation on the issue. 

As many as 24 players registered themselves in the INR 50 lakh slot, including 11 Indian players such as seniors skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues alongside upcoming young stalwarts Richa Ghosh, Shafali Verma and Renuka Singh Thakur. Global superstars Meg Lanning, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy, Deandra Dotting and Ellyse Perry, all in the same bracket, are expected to garner the most attention while the likes of Beth Mooney and Heather Knight surprisingly slotted themselves into the INR 40 lakh bracket.