Women’s Premier League
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Year wise developments
2023 auctions
Gaurav Gupta, January 26, 2023: The Times of India
From: Gaurav Gupta, January 26, 2023: The Times of India
Mumbai : Women’s cricket has finally shattered the glass ceiling. On Wednesday, five companies splurged almost Rs 4,670 crore for the Women’s Premier League, the newly coined name for the women’s IPL. The Adani Group bought the Ahmedabad franchise with the highest bid of Rs 1,289 crore. Mumbai Indians (Rs 913 crore), Royal Challengers Bangalore (Rs 901 crore), Delhi Capitals (Rs 810 crore) and Capri Global (Rs 757 crore) were the other top four successful bidders. Adani and Capri Global, which owns Sharjah Warriors in ILT20 in the UAE, are the new entrants in the BCCI fold.
‘Beginning of a revolution in women’s cricket’
Like in the IPL, the BCCI will be paid by the franchises over a period of 10 years. Adani Sportsline became the first to name their Ahmedabad-based team, having settled on Gujarat Giants. “The Indian women’s cricket team has been doing exceptionally well and a cricket league for women is a significant step in creating more opportunities for women through sports,” said Pranav Adani, director, Adani Enterprises.
The figure, achieved through a closed-bid process, exceeded all expectations and left the BCCI’s top brass pleasantly surprised. “Today is another great day for women’s cricket after the successful sale of WPL media rights and pay parity between men and women cricketers,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah told reporters.
In a tweet, Shah claimed that the BCCI raked in more money from the sale of WPL teams than it did in 2008 when it launched the IPL. “Today is a historic day in cricket as the bidding for teams of the inaugural #WPL broke the records of the inaugural Men's IPL in 2008! Congratulations to the winners as we garnered Rs 4669.99 cr in total bid. This marks the beginning of a revolution in women's cricket and paves the way for a transformative journey ahead not only for our women cricketers but for the entire sports fraternity. The #WPL would bring necessary reforms in women's cricket and would ensure an all-encompassing ecosystem that benefits each and every stakeholder,” he tweeted. Earlier this month, the BCCI earned Rs 951 crore from the sale of the league’s media rights for a five-year period between 2023 and 2027.
However, the big questions remains: how will teams break even on their investments? “Our endeavour and aspirations would be they should break even in the very first year. What we need to do is to work it out and make sure that this grows to the level that they can achieve it as fast as they can. We should not set timelines and see how many years (teams will take to make profits),” IPL chairman Arun Dhumal said.
The players’ auction is likely to be in the first week of February, just ahead of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa. Dhumal informed that finalising the schedule and itinerary for the first season of the WPL was "a work in progress”, but the likely dates are March 4 to 26. The first three seasons of the league will involve 22 matches each, after which the number of matches per season will be increased to 34, with a sixth team added.
MI owner Nita Ambani said, “With great joy and pride, I welcome our women’s cricket team to the MI family. This is a historic moment for Indian cricket and we are delighted to be a part of it. India’s women cricketers have always made the nation proud in the global sporting arena — be it the World Cup, Asia Cup or the recent Commonwealth Games. This new women’s league will once again shine aglobal spotlight on the talent, power and potential of our girls. I’m sure our women’s MI team will take the Mumbai Indians brand of fearless and entertaining cricket to a new level altogether.”A total of 16 companies took part in the team bidding process.
THE FIVE BIGGEST BIDS
Adani Sportsline Pvt. Ltd 1289 Crore: Ahmedabad Indiawin Sports Pvt. Ltd (MI) 912.99 Crore: Mumbai Royal Challengers Sports Pvt. Ltd (RCB)-901 Crore: Bangalore JSW GMR Cricket Pvt. Ltd 810 Crore: Delhi Capri Global Holdings Pvt. Ltd 757 Crore: Lucknow.
Details
Sources:
February 14, 2023: The Times of India
February 14, 2023: The Times of India
From: February 14, 2023: The Times of India
It was an action-packed day, with lots of excitement and surprises, at the first-ever auction of players for the Women’s Premier League. The five franchises collectively spent 59. 5 crore out of a possible 60 crore, picking up 87 cricketers, including 30 overseas players, out of the 448 who went under the hammer
Players bought : Jemimah Rodrigues (2. 2 crore), Meg Lanning (1. 1 crore), Shafali Verma (2 crore), Radha Yadav (40 lakh), Shikha Pandey (60 lakh), Marizanne Kapp (1. 5 crore), Titas Sadhu (25 lakh), Alice Capsey (75 lakh), Tara Norris (10 lakh), Laura Harris (45 lakh), Jasia Akhter (20 lakh), Minnu Mani (30 lakh), Jess Jonassen (50 lakh), Taniyaa Bhatia (30 lakh), Poonam Yadav (30 lakh), Sneha Deepthi (30 lakh), Arundhati Reddy (30 lakh), Aparna Mondal (10 lakh)
Assessment: Have a rich choice of captains as they got Meg Lanning, Jemimah Rodrigues and Shafali Verma to pick from. They also have got the player of the Under-19 WC final Titas Sadhu.
Players bought: Ashleigh Gardner (3. 4 crore), Beth Mooney (2. 2 crore), Sophia Dunkley (60 lakh), Annabel Sutherland (70 lakh), Harleen Deol (40 lakh), Deandra Dottin (60 lakh), Sneh Rana (75 lakh), Sabbineni Meghana (30 lakh), Georgia Wareham (75 lakh), Mansi Joshi (30 lakh), Dayalam Hemalatha (30 lakh), Monica Patel (30 lakh), Tanuja Kanwer (50 lakh), Sushma Verma (60 lakh), Hurley Gala (10 lakh), Parunika Sisodia (10 lakh), Shabnam Shakeel (10 lakh), Ashwani Kumari (35 lakh)
Assessment: Splurged most of their purse on foreign stars. In Aussies Gardner and Mooney, they have two greats of the game. India’s hard-hitting all rounder Sneh Rana is a good buy at 75 lakh.
Players bought: Harmanpreet Kaur (1. 8 crore), Nat Sciver (3. 2 crore), Amelia Kerr (1 crore), Pooja Vastrakar (1. 9 crore), Yastika Bhatia (1. 5 crore), Heather Graham (30 lakh), Isabelle Wong (30 lakh), Amanjot Kaur (50 lakh), Dhara Gujar (10 lakh), Saika Ishaque (10 lakh), Hayley Matthews (40 lakh), Chloe Tryon (30 lakh), Humairaa Khazi (10 lakh), Priyanka Bala (20 lakh), Sonam Yadav (10 lakh), Jintimani Kalita (10 lakh), Neelam Bisht (10 lakh) Assessment: Picked up Harmanpreet Kaur for 1. 8 Cr which was a steal as she is India’s captain that can also solve the franchise’s problem to hunt for a skipper. In Nat Sciver, the first England player, man or woman, to take a T20I hat-trick, they have a superstar pacer and a handy middle-order batter. Waited for the accelerated auction to pick up a lot of Indian players.
Players bought: Smriti Mandhana (3. 4 crore), Sophie Devine (50 lakh), Ellyse Perry (1. 7 crore), Renuka Singh (1. 5 crore), Richa Ghosh (1. 9 crore), Erin Burns (30 lakh), Disha Kasat (10 lakh), Indrani Roy (10 lakh), Shreyanka Patil (10 lakh), Kanika Ahuja (35 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) Assessment: Went big for Mandhana straight off the bat and got her at a hefty 3. 4 Cr. Also got the greatest women’s all-rounder Perry. In Richa Ghosh, they have the perfect finisher and keeper-bat and Renuka Singh provides exciting new ball option.
Players bought: Sophie Ecclestone (1. 8 crore), Deepti Sharma (2. 6 crore), Tahlia McGrath (1. 4 crore), Shabnim Ismail (1 crore), Alyssa Healy (70 lakh), Anjali Sarvani (55 lakh), Rajeshwari Gayakwad (40 lakh), Parshavi Chopra (10 lakh), Shweta Sehrawat (40 lakh), S Yashasri (10 lakh, Kiran Navgira (30 lakh), Grace Harris (75 lakh), Devika Vaidya (1. 4 crore), Lauren Bell (30 lakh), Laxmi Yadav (10 lakh), Simran Shaikh (10 lakh)
Assessment: In Agra girl and allrounder Deepti Sharma, they have a player with local connect. Got Alyssa Healy for a steal. They will also be delighted to get Shweta Sehrawat, highest scorer of the women’s U-19 T20 WC. TNN
