The Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024 auction is less than 24 hours away and there has been a lot of buzz already around the number of big names that will be going under the hammer. After a successful inaugural season, the WPL promises to be bigger and better this time around.
While the star names will surely set the stage ablaze, the tournament will also be crucial from the Indian team’s point of view as it will give a stage to several capped and uncapped players to make a statement.
The WPL franchises now have a year of experience and might have had an eye on how some all-rounders have performed in domestic cricket. On that note, here’s a look at three Indian all-rounders who might be on the radar of multiple franchises, potentially leading to a bidding war:
Poonam Khemnar
In her only match of the WPL 2023, Poonam Khemnar of the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), scored just two runs. However, the all-rounder had an incredible Senior Women’s T20 tournament in 2023, ending up as the third-highest run-scorer.
In scored a staggering 329 runs at a fantastic strike rate of 139.40. She also is handy with her leg-spin, picking up three wickets at an economy rate of just 2.66, which was the best in the competition. She could be a highly sought-after all-rounder in the auction, given her ongoing performance.
Ashwani Kumari
Aswini had a bumpy start as Gujarat Giants (GG) used her in the inaugural WPL season. She faced just five balls in the whole tournament, scoring five runs, and bowled just one over, conceding 18 runs.
However, Ashwani has proved that she has what it takes in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy this year. In seven matches, she scored 153 runs at a healthy strike rate of 120.47. She also scored a quickfire 52 off 25 balls recently in the Senior Women’s Inter-zonal T20 Trophy.
Devika Vaidya
A whopping INR 1.4 crore bid from the UP Warriorz in the auction last year had already shown how sought-after Devika Vaidya was. A leg-spinner and also a southpaw who is versatile to bat anywhere in the order, Vaidya can give balance to any side.
Although she could not perform that well last year, Vaidya showed her quality in domestic cricket with 11 wickets in six matches for Maharashtra in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy 2023. She also picked up nine wickets in six games in the Senior Women’s Inter-zonal T20 Trophy and is in red-hot form coming into the auction.
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