The players’ auction for the second season of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) is set to get underway on December 9 in Mumbai. As many as 165 players will go under the hammer, out of which 104 players are Indian and 61 are overseas, including 15 from associate nations.
Several bidding wars are expected during the mega event on Sunday with many big-ticket players being available in the auction pool. The likes of Kim Garth and Deandra Dottin have registered themselves at the highest base price of INR 50 lakh while Georgia Weareham, Amy Jones, Annabel Sutherland and Shabnim Ismail have been slotted in at a base price of INR 40 lakh.
Former India opener Aakash Chopra, who is also a WPL expert with JioCinema, has picked two star players who can spark an intense bidding war when the five franchises assemble in the auction arena in Mumbai on Saturday. Speaking with the Hindustan Times, Chopra said Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Athapaththu and West Indies all-rounder Deandra Dottin could set the stage ablaze.
“I am going with Chamari Athapaththu and Deandra Dottin. Between the two, because they are multi-dimensional players. There is a unique thing actually in women’s cricket. It is not something that we see very often in men’s cricket, which is the multi-dimensional cricketing skills. I think all women are multi-taskers and most men are very uni-dimensional. So, these two,” he said.
“This whole tournament is littered with some great all-rounders and these two were missing out in action last year and they will add value. I mean Deandra Dottin can actually strike the ball and so can Chamari Athapaththu, to be honest,” he added.
While Athapaththu was left unsold in the last year’s auction, Dottin bagged a Gujarat Giants contract worth INR 60 Lakh but was eventually ruled out of the tournament due to controversial circumstances.
The curious case of Dottin
As reported by ESPN Cricinfo, Dottin was recovering from a medical situation. But the cricketer gave a stunning reaction to the development through a social media post. She posted a screenshot of the report on her Instagram story, denying that she was medically unfit.
“Get well soon from what if I may ask?” she had written.
Dotting was released by Australia’s Kim Garth but ahead of the forthcoming season, both players have been released by Gujarat Giants. In fact, the franchise released the most number of players – 11 – among all five franchises, retaining 8 cricketers.
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