WPL 2025 auction: Deandra, Simran, Kamalini and Prema emerge as most expensive players

Deandra Dottin, Simran Shaikh, G Kamalini and Prema Rawat fetched big paychecks in the WPL 2025 Auction, which took place at ITC Gardenia, Bengaluru on Sunday.

- AGENCIES

For acquiring the hard-hitting West Indies' all-rounder Deandra, one of only three players with a reserve price of Rs 50 lakh in the auction, Gujarat Giants (GG) and UP Warriorz were in a fierce tussle before the Adani Sportsline-owned franchise roped her in for Rs 1.7 crore.

But the biggest story of the auctions was the big deals for uncapped talented Indian players. Mumbai batter Simran, who was with UP Warriorz in WPL 2023, emerged as the costliest uncapped India player after being roped in by GG for Rs 1.9 crore, after edging out Delhi Capitals (DC). Simran was a member of Mumbai and India E winning teams in the Senior Women's T20 Trophy and Challenger Trophy, respectively.

For acquiring hard-hitting wicketkeeper-batter Kamalini, who hit 44 not out in India's nine-wicket win over Pakistan in the U19 Asia Cup game, Mumbai Indians (MI) shelled out Rs 1.6 crore after a fierce bidding war with DC. MI did have a look at Kamalini during their pre-auction trials, and the WPL 2023 champions did go all out in roping her in. Hailing from Madurai, Kamalini, 16, trains at the Super Kings Academy in Chennai, and came into the limelight after hitting 311 runs in eight games, as Tamil Nadu won the U19 Women's T20 Trophy in October. She will be MI's second wicketkeeper-batter option after Yastika Bhatia.