WPL 2023: when is auction for first ever Women’s Premier League tournament? Players and teams explained

The first ever Women’s Indian Premier League auction has taken place, changing the course of women’s cricket forever. Nat Sciver-Brunt joins Ash Gardner in becoming the joint-most expensive overseas players and Sciver-Brunt’s deal will now make her onw of the highest-earning female sportspeople in England.

The tournament is set to be held in March 2023 and it will mark the first ever Women’s IPL. It was set up by the Board of Control for Cricket in India and will take place before the start of the men’s IPL 2023. Five teams will participate and the auction, which is underway just now, sees the franchises bid from over 400 players.

Female icons from all over the world have put themselves up for auction, including South Africa’s Shabnim Ismail and England’s Sophie Ecclestone, in preparation for a tournament which has been highly anticipated for many years.

Here is all the latest news from the WPL Auction 2023…

When is the WPL 2023?

The tournament will start on 4 March 2023 and conclude on 26 March. There will be five teams who are set to compete in a round-robin tournament with the top teams then participating in playoffs. These are the five teams and their respective coaches:

• Gujarat Giants - Rachael Haynes
• Royal Challengers Bangalore - TBD
• Delhi Capitals - Jonathan Batty
• UP Warriorz - Jon Lewis
• Mumbai Indians - Charlotte Edwards

The men’s tournament begins on 1 April and will run through until 28 May.

Who are the most expensive WPL players?

Unsurprisingly, India’s Smriti Mandhana is one of most expensive players on the circuit and she was bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for £339,832. Mandhana has been a huge benefactor of the white-ball franchises, such as The Hundred, and was set to be one of the star figures at the ongoing T20 World Cup in South Africa.

She has, however, injured her finger which forced her out of India’s opening fixture against Pakistan. It remains to be seen whether she will have recovered in time for their next game on Wednesday.

The second on the list is England’s Nat Sciver-Brunt. The all-rounder, who won player of the match in her first World Cup 2023 fixture, was bought by the Mumbai Indians for £320,019. Sciver-Brunt won player of the match on the same day she received her awards for ICC Women’s Player of the Year and Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year.

Another player who has caused exceptional commotion is Australia’s Ashleigh Gardner. The all-rounder has been bought by the Gujarat Giants for £319,872 leading to fans and cricket stars around the world rushing to praise the WPL auction.

Australian television presenter, Neroli Meadows, took to Twitter to say: “The scenes from the #WPLAuction are making my heart sing. What a moment for cricket…not only women’s cricket - all cricket. If you invest in women, you invest in the future of young girls and that can only grow the game.”

Which England players have been bought?

27 England players put themselves up for auction with only seven being signed. Sophie Ecclestone, the number one T20 bowler in the world, will join England head coach Jon Lewis at the UP Warriorz and captain Heather Knight nearly went unsold until RCB bought her for £40,000.

Alice Capsey signed for Delhi Capitals for £75,000, Sophia Dunkley went to Gujarat Giants for £60,000 while Lauren Bell and Issy Wong were sold to UP Warriorz and Mumbai Indians respectively for £30,000.

Danni Wyatt, Amy Jones and Katherine Sciver-Brunt were three England stars who went unsold.

Full squads

Delhi Capitals: Jemimah Rodrigues, Meg Lanning, Shafali Verma, Radha Yadav, Shikha Pandey, Marizanne Kapp, Titas Sadhu, Alice Capsey, Tara Norris, Laura Harris, Jasia Akhtar, Minnu Mani, Taniya Bhatia, Poonam Yadav, Jess Jonassen, Sneha Deepthi, Arundhati Reddy, Aparna Mondal

Gujarat Giants: Ash Gardner, Beth Mooney, Sophia Dunkley, Annabel Sutherland, Harleen Deol, Deandra Dottin, Sneh Rana, Sabbineni Meghana, Georgia Wareham, Mansi Joshi, Dayalan Hemalatha, Monica Patel, Tanuja Kanwer, Sushma Verma, Hurley Gala, Ashwani Kumari, Parunika Sisodia, Shabnam Shakil

Mumbai Indians: Harmanpreet Kaur, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Amelia Kerr, Pooja Vastrakar, Yastika Bhatia, Heather Graham, Issy Wong, Devika Vaidya, Dhara Gujjar, Saika Ishawue, Hayley Matthews, Chloe Tryon, Humaira Kaazi, Poonam Khemnar, Sonam Yadav, Jintamani Kalita, Neelam Bisht

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry, Renuka Thakur Singh, Richa Ghosh, Erin Burns, Disha Kasat, Indrani Roy, Shreyanka Patil, Kanika Ahuja, Asha Shobana, Heather Knight, Dane van Niekerk, Preeti Bose, Ashwani Kumari, Komal Zanzad, Megan Schutt, Sahana Pawar.

UP Warriorz: Sophie Ecclestone, Deepti Sharma, Tahlia McGrath, Shabnim Ismail, Alyssa Healy, Anjali Sarvani, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Parshavi Chopra, Shweta Sehrawat, S Yashasri, Kiran Navgire, Grace Harris, Devika Vaidya, Lauren Bell, Laxmi Yadav, Simran Shaikh