In a path-breaking move by the BCCI, the board has appointed a female auctioneer for the inaugural Women’s Premier League (WPL) auction that is scheduled to take place on Monday, February 13th in Mumbai, as per a report in Cricbuzz. Malika Advani, a Mumbai based art collector consultant for Modern and Contemporary Indian art and partner in Art India Consultants firm, is picked to oversee the proceedings. Hugh Edmeades, Richard Madley or Charu Sharma are the ones who had been IPL auctioneers in the past.
As per the WPL Player Auction Rules, each of the five franchises will need to have at least 15 players in their squad and they have to spend at least INR 9 crores out of the allotted INR 12 crores. Besides, each team is only allowed to pick six foreign players. The BCCI communication also says the same, “The franchisees are reminded of the WPL squad rules with respect to minimum (15) and maximum (18) squad size, minimum squad spend (INR 9 crore) and the maximum number of overseas players in the squad (6).”
Meanwhile, a total of 409 players will go under the hammer at the auction with 246 of them being Indians and 163 foreign players; the list also includes eight players from the associate nations also. Much like how it is done in the IPL auction, the players will be presented in different categories – marquee players, batters, allrounders, wicketkeepers, fast bowlers, spin bowlers and emerging players.
Some big names like Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma, Ellyse Perry, Sophie Ecclestone, Sophie Devine and Deandra Dottin are among the players with the highest base price (INR 50 lakhs) while there are nearly 30 players who are listed in INR 40 lakh base price category.
Not only this, the board will also be providing strategy breaks every hour during the auction. Each break will be of ten minutes each. The auction will start at 2.30 PM.
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