In a surprising turn of events in the 2024 Women's Premier League auction, Sri Lankan Chamari Athapaththu has gone unsold, from her base price of Rs 30 lakh.
She had gone unsold in the first auction of the Women’s Premier League last year as well, despite slotting her base price at Rs 30 lakh.
The 34-year-old Sri Lankan all-rounder was expected by many to be one of the biggest sales in Saturday's auction after a stellar season of cricket that has seen her score three T20I half centuries and also two unbeaten ODI centuries for Sri Lanka that resulted in her becoming the first female batter from the country to climb to the top of the ICC’s rankings in June.
She played the women’s Big Bash League for Sydney Thunder this winter and emerged as the league’s highest-scoring overseas players, making 552 runs in 14 innings, at a strike rate of 127.18. She was also named the Player of the Series, having also picked 9 wickets.
The 2024 WPL auction is taking place in Mumbai with a total of 165 players going under the hammer of which 104 are Indians and 61 are from overseas.
With the big auction having taken place in the league's inaugural edition last season, the five teams retained a total of 60 players, and released 29 by the 15 October deadline.
Coming into Mumbai's auction, the teams have a total of 30 slots open, including 9 for overseas players.
In the off season, Gujarat Giants, who finished last in 2023 season, made the biggest overhaul, releasing 11 players and came into the auction with the biggest purse of Rs 5.95 crore. RCB had 7 slots to fill, coming in with a budget of Rs 3.35 crore. Defending champions Mumbai and UP Warriorz both each had five slots open and came with an auction purse of Rs 2.1 crore and Rs 4 crore. Delhi had released only 3 players and came into the auction with a purse of Rs 2.25 crore.
All teams are allowed to have a roster of a maximum of 18 players for the season, with an auction purse cap of Rs 13.5 crore.
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