On Sunday, the third Women’s Premier League (WPL) player auction will take place at ITC Gardenia in Bengaluru, with five teams contending for 19 overall places from a pool of 120 players and completing their squads for the 2025 season. While 29 outside players have signed up for the auction, competing for only five spots, the focus of the upcoming mini auction will be on 91 Indian players, nine of whom have been capped and the rest are uncapped.
Nisarg Naik, a Mumbai-based cricket talent scout, has been recruiting female cricketers around the country since late 2021 and has begun proposing individuals to WPL franchises ahead of the first season in 2023.
Naik feels that wicketkeeper-batters Nandini Kashyap and G Kamalini, who have recently performed well, will be the most sought-after names in the 2025 WPL auction.
“I shall maintain Nandini and Kamalini’s names because they are sought for by every WPL franchise in the auction. Speaking with the teams’ scouts at the U19 tri-series in Pune, many have recognized Kamalini, who isn’t a new face to anyone who follows women’s cricket.”
It will come as no surprise that clubs will strongly support her. It’s because there is no other significant left-handed hitter in Indian cricket after Smriti (Mandhana). If any organization invests in her and develops her skills over time, she has the potential to be the next great thing.
However, she performed well in the Uttarakhand Premier League this year and has been consistent on the home circuit. Though she needs to improve her running between wickets, she is a very talented player, and her strike rate is also around 100, so teams will take that into account,” Naik told IANS in an exclusive interview.