Australia’s Phoebe Litchfield becomes the first player to be picked at the WPL 2024 Auction as Gujarat Giants bag the young Aussie batter for INR 1 crore.
Litchfield's reputation has been built on exquisite technique and timing and her ability to score all around the ground. The 20-year-old has broken a couple of records and is a vital cog in the Australian wheel.
In October of this year, Litchfield achieved the record for the fastest fifty in a women's T20I in 18 balls, equalising Sophie Devine's previous best.
With 279 runs scored at a strike rate of 132.85 for the Northern Superchargers, the left-handed batter concluded The Hundred as the team's third highest scorer. Litchfield scored an undefeated 78 runs off of 92 balls in her first ODI. For the women in yellow in ODIs, she also has a perfect score of 106 not out.
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 the 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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