Today.. the WPL (Women’s Premier League) auction has taken place in Delhi. Alongside Indian cricketers, the five franchises are keeping a close eye on foreign players as well. Each team has a purse of 150 million rupees to build their squad, although some of that money has already been used for player retentions. Now the teams collectively have 411 million rupees remaining.
A total of 277 cricketers are entering this year’s women’s IPL auction. The five teams have 73 slots available, of which 23 can be overseas. Overall, 83 foreign players are registered for the auction. Among them, Australia has the highest number with 23 players, followed by England with 22. Apart from these, Bangladesh has 3 players in the auction.
Before the main auction, teams had already completed their retention process. Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals retained the most—five players each. UP Warriorz retained the least—just one player. Along with India’s World Cup–winning stars like Deepti Sharma, Kranti Gour, Harleen Deol, and Renuka Singh Thakur, teams will also closely watch foreign stars like Meg Lanning, Alyssa Healy, and Sophie Devine. Bangladesh’s pace sensation Marufa Akter may also spring a surprise.
Based on her excellent performance in the last Women’s ODI World Cup, Bangladeshi pacer Marufa Akter, all-rounder Sworna Akter, and spinner Rabeya Khan have earned a place in the auction list. Marufa’s base price has been set at 3 million rupees. She is listed as the 87th cricketer, in set number 15, which is the second set for pace bowlers.
As her name appears towards the end of the auction list, it may be difficult for Marufa’s name to come up in the first round, since only 67 players will be called initially. Later, the accelerated round will begin, during which franchises will pick their preferred players from those who were unsold or did not appear in the early rounds.
