Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra believes Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu and West Indies’ Deandra Dottin could fetch hefty deals in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2024 auction, scheduled for December 9 in Mumbai.
Ignored in the inaugural WPL auction, Chamari has kept her base price at INR 30 lakh. On the other hand, Deandra was supposed to join Gujarat Giants for WPL 2023 earlier this year but couldn’t play due to a medical situation, something which was strongly refuted by her.
Deandra, who plays in multiple franchise leagues, has kept her WPL auction base price at INR 50 lakh.
“The main Indian players haven’t been released. So, there will be a lot of focus on overseas stars and two names come to my mind: Chamari Athapaththu, who was surprisingly not picked last year, maybe due to the coaching staff which most teams had.”
“She could have attracted a very decent bid, but her going unsold was a bit of a shock for me. I am expecting her to be picked, somebody who’s an all-rounder, knows Asian conditions well and can add great value to the team.”
“Second is Deandra Dottin, who was a part of Gujarat Giants. But then, there was stuff which happened around her fitness and she could not play. Now, she’s put her name for the auction and I expect a lot of action for her and Athapaththu.”
“Both of them are multi-dimensional players, something which is very unique to women’s cricket as compared to men’s cricket. This whole tournament is littered with great all-rounders and these two players will add a lot of value,” said Chopra, a JioCinema and Sports18 expert, in a virtual interaction.
As many as 165 players will go under the hammer in the WPL 2024 auction, with a total of 30 slots available for the five franchises – Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, UP Warriorz, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Giants.
According to Chopra, all-rounders will be in huge demand at the auction.
“One of the most fantastic things of women’s cricket is that you get to see a lot of spin, even at the back end of an innings. You don’t get much of Indian fast-bowlers, so you look towards overseas options like Tara Norris, Kim Garth and Annabel Sutherland and attract a little more attention.”
“But spin all-rounders will also come into play like Alana King can tonk the ball, as well as Georgia Wareham, who was let go of by Gujarat. They can have a really decent day because they bring two skills to the table.”
From an Indian perspective, 21 slots are available and Chopra reckons leg-spin all-rounder Devika Vaidya along with left-arm spinner Mannat Kashyap will be the sought-after names.
“Also, Devika Vaidya has been released by UP Warriorz -– she’s an all-rounder, bowls leg-spin, and bats left-handed. So, these are the two-three names I think will attract a lot of attention.”
“In terms of uncapped Indian players, someone like Mannat Kashyap or Uma Chetry can attract huge interest. You can also expect our U19 World Cup players to attract a lot of interest.”
(With IANS Inputs)
