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The first-ever Women’s Premier League (WPL) auction is scheduled to be held on February 13 in Mumbai. On the bidding day, a total of 409 players will go under the hammer.
246 Indian and 163 overseas players (including eight from the associate nations) have been divided into different categories, based on their specialisation and age.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has appointed Mallika Sagar Advani as the auctioneer. She is a Mumbai-based art collector consultant for Modern and Contemporary Indian art and partner in Art India Consultants firm.
Rules for the WPL 2023 auction
The players have registered their base prices in slabs of INR 50 lakh, INR 40 lakh, INR 30 lakh, INR 20 lakh and INR 10 lakh. Bids up to 1 crore INR would be in increments of 5 lakhs INR, from 1-2 crore INR in increments of 10 lakhs INR, and beyond 2 crore INR in increments of 20 lakhs INR.
The maximum squad size of a team could be 18, which includes maximum of six foreigners. The minimum squad size is restricted to 15.
Marquee players
Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma, Ellyse Perry, Sophie Ecclestone, Sophie Devine and Deandra Dottin
Purse value
All the five franchises – Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, Gujarat Giants, Royal Challengers Bangalore and UP Warriorz – have been given a purse of INR 12 crores, of which a minimum of INR 9 crores have to be spent.
Time and venue for the auction
The auction will take place at the Jasmine Hall, 1, Jio World Convention Centre, from 2:30 pm (IST) onwards. There will be a break after every hour of the bidding process.
“Following the conclusion of each set, there may be a short break (at the auctioneer’s discretion) to allow franchises time to re-evaluate tactics. The length of each break will be announced by the Auctioneer at the conclusion of the relevant set.
A warning bell will ring two minutes before the resumption of the Player Auction after each break. The Player Auction will re-start promptly after each break. It is anticipated that these short breaks will total a minimum of 10 minutes in every hour of the Player Auction proceedings,” said the BCCI, as reported by Cricbuzz.
