LISTICLE
Follow UsOut of the 120 players who have been shortlisted for the Women’s Premier League (WPL) auction, only 19 can be picked. That's a small number, especially considering how five of the 19 spots will be occupied by overseas players.
However, the remaining 14 spots will see nine capped Indians in the fray, along with some really exciting uncapped Indian picks.
It’s these relatively unknown players who light up the league. Remember Asha Sobhana, Shreyanka Patil, Sajana Sajeevan? We can have a new name like that headline the upcoming WPL Auction in Bengaluru. Let’s look at the uncapped Indians, which the five teams can target based on their requirements.
This 21-year-old has just been selected for the Indian T20I team that will go against West Indies in less than two days on the back of a stellar season in domestic T20 cricket for Uttarakhand and in the Challengers Trophy.
The wicketkeeper batter was by far the best at show in the 2024 Uttarakhand Women’s T20 League, where she scored 123 runs in just three innings at a very healthy strike rate. She continued the same vein of form in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy (SWT20), where she scored 247 runs at a brilliant average of 41.16 and a strike rate of 125.4.
She raised her bar even higher in the Challengers Trophy, which is a much tougher competition, scoring 332 runs at an unbelievable average of 83 and a strike rate of 137.2.
She is a batter in the Jemimah Rodrigues mould who can score at a high strike rate despite not hitting many sixes, an aspect of her game she is still working on. Four of the five WPL teams, except the Giants, have already called her for trial.
With teams like the Delhi Capitals (DC), Mumbai Indians (due to Yastika Bhatia’s injury concerns) needing a solid Indian batter who can also keep the wickets, it won’t be wrong to assume that she’ll be in high demand come the auction.
Mumbai’s SWT20 winning captain and opening batter has been in good form this season after being dropped by MI from the retention list.
However, she has responded in style this season, both with the bat and her leadership, as the Mumbai women continue to set new benchmarks in Indian women’s domestic cricket by winning the SWT20. With the bat, she scored 132 runs in four innings in the Challengers Trophy and 328 runs in the SWT20 at decent strike rates.
With teams looking for good backup options in this mini-auction, Kaazi can be found back in any of the five WPL team setups.
Another hard-hitting talent from Jammu Kashmir after Jasia Akhtar, the 30-year-old Rubia from Anantnag, also bowls medium pace and has had a remarkable season in domestic cricket this year.
She scored 230 runs in the SWT20 at an average of 46, and also took two wickets at an average of 22.5 in the competition. She didn’t feature in the 2023 WPL mega auction, but that wasn’t the case this time. With many teams looking for lower-order Indian batting options, Rubia would have a great chance of finding herself sold in the auction.
Nandini’s teammate from Uttarakhand, Raghvi’s career, has been on an upward trend after she showed great skill with the bat in the A-team tour to Australia. She was the leading run-scorer across both sides in the ODIs, scoring 205 runs in just three innings. Now, she’s also part of the senior Indian T20I team against West Indies.
While her strike rates in the Challengers and SWT20 weren’t very high this season, she belted 161 runs at an average of 40.5 and 158 at 31.60 in the two tournaments, respectively. This pedigree with the bat and the India selection will certainly improve her fortunes in the auction.
Who are the junior stars that can be picked?
In the recently completed tri-series between the South Africa Under-19 side and two Indian Under-19 teams, Tamil Nadu’s 16-year-old left-handed prodigy Kamalini scored the most runs, 270 in just five innings.
Meanwhile, Karnataka’s Niki Prasad (in the picture below), the captain of the U19 side that will soon participate in the Women’s U19 Asia Cup, was the third-highest run scorer in the series with 149 runs to her name.
Both these batters have already proved their mettle for their state sides and have a high gear available in their batting. While they are not first-XI picks as of now, teams with an eye on the future and some extra money left towards the closing minutes of the auction can certainly bid to have them on their side.
In bowlers, pacer Falak Naz (who was also part of the last U19 India World Cup squad) and Joshitha VJ are good potential picks if teams wish to develop their ranks for future tournament editions. Joshitha was also the joint leading wicket-taker in the South Africa U19 series.
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