Within a month of being named Player of the Tournament in India’s triumphant ODI World Cup campaign, will Deepti Sharma deliver another standout performance, this time at the auction table?
As the five WPL (Women’s Premier League) franchises converge today in Delhi for the league’s first mega auction—277 players will go under the hammer for 73 slots—all eyes will be on the all-rounder who is expected to spur intense bidding. The Agra-born cricketer, who became the first cricketer—male or female—to score over 200 runs and take 20 wickets in a single edition of a World Cup, has a reserve price of Rs 50 lakh, but is expected to land a deal at several multiples of that. Whether she beats her previous price tag of Rs 2.6 crore remains to be seen.
Among those eyeing Sharma would be her former team UP Warriorz (UPW), which goes into the auction with a purse of Rs 14.5 crore, the highest among all the franchises. “She is certainly in our plans… I would expect that between us and Gujarat Giants (GG), there'll be some fierce bidding, and, maybe, another one of the big three might consider her as well because of her all-round prowess,” says Lisa Sthalekar, former Australia captain and a mentor with the UPW.
Power-packed performances are nothing new for Sharma, who will be among the 194 Indian players in the auction pool. The 28-year-old is the first Indian woman to cross both 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in T20Is, and was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in WPL 2024. Yet she has rarely been at the forefront of public conversation—a reality the recent World Cup triumph has changed.
One of the biggest takeaways from India’s victory is how it has broadened the narrative beyond established stars like Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues and Shafali Verma (all of whom have been retained by their respective teams and won’t be joining the auction pool) and brought players like Sharma firmly into the spotlight. With heightened visibility comes greater bargaining power at the auction table, and Sthalekar expects the likes of Renuka Singh Thakur, Harleen Deol and Sneh Rana also to command a premium at the auction.
Also Read: Why the World Cup win is a watershed moment for women’s cricket
Pacer Singh Thakur, who impressed with her tight spells throughout the tournament and clocked an economy rate of 3.5 in the final against South Africa, has set a reserve price of Rs 40 lakh and is part of the marquee set of eight players. Sharma is the only other Indian player in the cohort that includes the likes of Aussie legend Meg Lanning, South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt and T20 World Cup-winning Kiwi skipper Sophie Devine. Deol, who is known for her cameos and can also deliver a few overs, will begin the auction at Rs 50 lakh.
“The victory has accelerated the shift in how women’s cricket is perceived. Several members from the World Cup squad are well positioned to benefit from the win,” says Sanjay Adesara, the chief business officer of Adani Sportsline that owns GG, which has Rs 9 crore left in its purse to build its squad. “What is equally encouraging is the attention on the younger lot… their exposure to a world-class environment and the potential they bring make them valuable long-term picks.”
Sree Charani, the 21-year-old spinner from Andhra Pradesh, who made her international debut in April and finished the World Cup with a tally of 14 wickets from nine matches, is expected to headline the crop of newbies, along with her World Cup teammate pacer Kranti Gaud. “Their valuation will go high [after the World Cup]. I’d expect there’d be a fair bit of bidding for someone like Charani, who's done exceptionally well during the World Cup. And we know how successful left arm finger spinners are in the shortest format,” says Sthalekar.
Gaud, 22, on the other hand, made history after debuting for India as an injury replacement in the series against England in July, where she became the youngest Indian woman to take a five-for in ODIs. She continued her purple patch in the World Cup, with a Player of the Match three-for against Pakistan in a group game. Gaud has a reserve price of Rs 50 lakh, while Charani is at Rs 30 lakh.
“There will be a rub-on effect primarily because the World Cup win puts a spotlight on the depth of talent there is in the women’s game in India. The breakthroughs of players like Charani and Goud will make teams look and scout for more such talent and that is likely to increase the values across the board, particularly of all-rounders,” says Bhairav Shanth, co-founder of ITW Universe, a sports marketing and management agency.
Alongside, the World Cup victory has also had a knock-on effect on the entire WPL ecosystem as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), on Wednesday, onboarded three new commercial partners—ChatGPT, Kingfisher and Bisleri—at a combined value of Rs 48 crore. The trio has signed up for the next two seasons. The Tata Group remains its title partner.
That the WPL will kickstart the commercial engine for women’s cricket in India was evident from its inaugural season, when it bagged Rs 951 crore and Rs 4,670 crore for the media rights and franchise sales, respectively. The momentum only grew with record viewership: The first 15 matches of the second season in 2024 clocked a viewership of 103 million, up from 67.8 million for the first 14 matches of the previous season.
The ODI World Cup has pushed the ceiling even higher, with the reach of the tournament growing 5x compared to the previous edition. With 185 million logging in, the India versus South Africa final became the most-watched women’s cricket match ever, and equalled the viewership numbers for the men’s T20 World Cup final in 2024. As the WPL’s fourth season kicks off in January, women’s cricket in India seems poised to keep rewriting records, both on and off the field.
First Published: Nov 27, 2025, 11:02
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