Women's Cricket
Women's Premier League auction to be held on 9th December in Mumbai
The 2024 edition of the Women's Premier League will witness five teams taking on each other to win the coveted title.
The player's auction for the 2024 edition of the Women's Premier League (WPL) will be held on 9th December in Mumbai, the BCCI announced on Friday.
The dates for the second edition of the WPL are not decided yet but it could take place in February-March next year.
Mumbai Indians are the defending WPL champions, as they had beaten Delhi Capitals by seven wickets in the final on March 26 at the Brabourne Stadium earlier this year.
Mumbai was led by Harmanpreet Kaur, while the recently retired Meg Lanning captained Delhi in 2023.
The five franchises -- Mumbai, Delhi, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Gujarat Giants, and UP Warriorz -- had retained 60 cricketers, including 21 from overseas, ahead of the auction.
A total of 29 players were released from contract from the existing squads.
While Delhi Capitals retained their Indian core of Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Radha Yadav, and Shikha Pandey along with skipper Meg Lanning.
Gujarat Giants retained their foreign core of Ashleigh Garnder, Beth Mooney, and Laura Wolvaardt along with last year's stand in captain Sneh Rana. They released the likes of Sophia Dunkley and Annabel Sutherland.
Defending champions Mumbai Indians retained the majority of the winning team and released only four players.
Royal Challengers Bangalore had some big releases with the likes of Dane Van Niekerk and Megan Schutt. They retained youngsters Shreyanka Patil, and Kanika Ahuja along with skipper Smriti Mandhana.
UP Warriorz released youngster Simran Shaikh and the experienced Devika Vaidya and Shabnim Ismail. They have retained youngsters Shweta Sehrawat, Kiran Navgire, and Parshavi Chopra along with senior players Alyssa Healy and Deepti Sharma.
