The much-awaited Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2025 auction is set to take place on December 15 in Bengaluru. It will be a mini-auction in a stark contrast to the men’s IPL, that saw the teams building from the scratch, apart from retentions.
As a result of the mini-auction, each franchise will have a total of INR 15 crore to spent in the auction. The amount is an increase from INR 13.5 crore that was the limit in the last year’s auction.
On November 7, the five franchises announced the retentions of 71 players, including 25 overseas players, thus keeping the core of their squad intact. Interestingly, only 19 slots are available in the auction, with five reserved for foreign cricketers. Gujarat Giants have the most purse (INR 4.4 crore) remaining ahead of the WPL auction
The Indian players like Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, Shafali Verma, Renuka Singh, Deepti Sharma and Jemimah Rodrigues were retained by the franchises. Meanwhile, international players like Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning, Ellyse Perry and Alyssa Healy will keep playing for their respective sides in the 2025.
However, experience campaigner such as Heather Knight and Deandra Dottin will be available in the auction. Lea Tahuhu, who was released from the Giants squad, will be up for grabs. The veteran Indian cricketers like Sneh Rana, Poonam Yadav, and Veda Krishnamurthy were released by the franchises and will also enter the auction.
Smriti Mandhana-led RCB won WPL 2024
The WPL 2024 was played between February 23 – March 17. In the league stage, Delhi Capitals (DC) ended as the table-toppers with six wins in eight league games, followed by Mumbai Indians (MI) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).
In the eliminator, Smriti Mandhana-led RCB secured a thrilling five-run victory against MI to book a finals clash with DC.
RCB bowlers, Shreyanka Patil (4/12) and Sophie Molineux (3/20) bundled out the Capitals line-up for a meager total of 113. In response, Ellyse Perry (35*) emerged as the top contributor, as RCB chased down the score in the last over to win the game by eight wickets.
Perry was the top-scorer in the tournament with 347 runs, while Patil took 13 wickets. However, Deepti Sharma claimed the Player of the Tournament award for slamming 295 runs and taking 10 wickets in eight games.
FAQs:
When did the WPL started?
The 2023 edition was the first season of WPL.
Who won WPL 2023?
Under the leadership of Meg Lanning, Delhi Capitals lifted the WPL 2023 title.
