Mumbai: Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) let go of as many as six players from their squad – the most among five Women’s Premier League (WPL) teams after the conclusion of retention window and before the upcoming mini-auction. 71 players including 25 overseas players have been retained with all the teams, taking a cue from Indian Premier League auction history, choosing to stick to their core for the upcoming season.
South Africa batter Nadine de Klerk was among those they released, having recently acquired the services of Danni Wyatt-Hodge via trade.
Leg-spinner Poonam Yadav, off-spin all-rounder Sneh Rana are the prominent Indian names released by teams. Poonam hasn’t played international cricket since March 2022 and didn’t get a game in the last season. Rana had led Gujarat Giants (GG) in the first season after their captain Beth Mooney left the tournament with an injury. Mannat Kashyap, Veda Krishnamurthy, Tarannum Pathan and Lauren Cheatle are the other names they have released.
England captain Heather Knight, who had pulled out of the 2024 season due to international duty, was released. Lea Tahuhu will also make it back to the auction, likely to held in early December. The purse has been increased from Rs13.5 crore to ₹15 crore this year. Delhi Capitals (DC), runners-up in both seasons, will go with the smallest purse of ₹2.5 crores.
Mumbai Indians (MI) have let go of Fatima Jaffer, Humaira Kazi, Priyanka Bala and England pacer Issy Wong. Harmanpreet Kaur will lead them again with their strong core of Amelia Kerr, Hayley Matthews, Chloe Tryon and Shabnim Ismail intact.
UP Warriorz (UPW), who made the playoffs, last year released bowling all-rounder Parshavi Chopra, uncapped Laxmi Yadav and medium-pacer S Yashasri and England pacer Lauren Bell.
UPW, DC and MI released 5 players while GG let go off 4. GG have the biggest purse available ( ₹4.4 crore) to fill 4 slots, 2 of them overseas. UPW has only 3 slots available, 1 of them overseas. A total of ₹16.7 crore purse will be available for the teams in the auction with a maximum of 19 slots, 5 of them overseas to be filled.
