The WPL player auction for the 2024 season is scheduled to take place in Mumbai on December 9. Each of the five teams will reportedly have an additional purse of INR 1.5 crore (approx. US $180,228) available, in addition to the balance amount left from the last auction as well as from player releases. A total of 30 slots, including nine overseas slots, will be available to be filled at the day-long auction.
Earlier, 60 players were retained, including 21 overseas players, by the five franchises, while 29 players were released. The balance amount from the last auction and the money derived from the player releases will be added to the fresh purse of INR 1.5 crore.
In the inaugural WPL season, teams had INR 12 crore (approx. US $1.44 million) to assemble squads. However, two of the five teams, defending champions Mumbai Indians and UP Warriorz, exhausted this amount. The remaining three teams – Gujarat Giants, Delhi Capitals, and Royal Challengers Bangalore – had varying amounts left as balance.
Giants, who finished at the bottom of the points table last season, have released nearly half their squad and will have the highest purse of INR 5.95 crore (approx. US $714,904) with ten slots, including three overseas slots, available to be filled. Warriorz, who finished mid-table, have INR 4 crore (approx. US $480,608) to fill up five slots, including one overseas. They are followed by Royal Challengers, who finished fourth, with INR 3.35 crore (approx. US $402,509) to fill seven slots, including three overseas.
Capitals, last season’s runner-up, will have INR 2.25 crore (approx. US $270,342) to fill three slots, including one overseas. Mumbai will have the smallest purse among the five franchises, INR 2.1 crore (approx. US $252,319), to fill five slots, including one overseas.
The BCCI has not yet communicated to the franchises the tournament dates for the second edition of the WPL, and whether the tournament would be played in the home-and-away format across multiple venues, or in a single city like last season.
At last year’s auction, seven players earned bids as high as INR 2 crore, and three breached the INR 3-crore mark – Smriti Mandhana (INR 3.4 crore), Ashleigh Gardner (INR 3.2 crore), and Nat Sciver-Brunt (INR 3.2 crore).
