WPL sets moneyball rolling for women’s game: Crore-plus for 2 uncapped players | Cricket News

When pace bowling all-rounder Kashvee Gautam, 20, finished her training in Chandigarh and picked her phone, she saw at least 100 missed calls. Sensing she had been picked up in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) auction, she dialled her father Dinesh who told her that she was bagged Gujarat Giants for Rs 2 crore — the highest a women cricketer who is yet to represent the country has ever got.Kashvee’s earnings are more than that of the present India captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who was roped in Mumbai Indians for Rs 1.80 crore in the first season last year. Senior Indian player Smriti Mandhana, with Rs 3.40 crore, is the WPL’s highest earner.
Hard-hitting opener Vrinda Dinesh, 22, too, was at the nets with the Karnataka Under-23 team that was participating in a BCCI age-group tournament in Raipur when Indian and foreign players were going under the hammer for next season’s WPL at Mumbai. It was about an hour after she raked in a Rs 1.3 crore deal with UP Warriorz that she came to know about the biggest payday of her young career.
Vrinda Dinesh with her coach Kiran Uppoor. Express
The financial windfall at this year’s mini-auction, which didn’t have top players as they were retained the five franchises, reflects how the money in women’s cricket now is no longer a top-heavy affair, but is trickling to even uncapped players as professional scouting has kicked in. As is the case with the men’s T20 franchise leagues around the world, fast bowling all-rounders and hard-hitting openers are the most valued in the women’s game.
Chandigarh captain Kashvee is still trying to come to terms with her career’s sudden spike. “I was training. I came back and there were at least 100 missed calls and I don’t know how many messages. I got the feeling that I had been picked but it was only after I called my father (Sudesh Sharma) I got to know about the money I had got,” she says.
Unfazed the price tag, Kashvee is excited to share the dressing room with a legendary Australian all-rounder. “Playing with Tahila McGrath is something I am looking forward to. She is the best all-rounder in the present time and I just want to pick her brain.”
Vrinda’s father, Dinesh, says he sensed his daughter was a “bit overwhelmed” the development. “I am yet to have a proper conversation with her but she sounded a bit overwhelmed. This girl has earned it. We meet only in the evening since she leaves home at 4:45 in the morning every day. We come from a sporting family. My father played hockey and my elder brother played cricket. We are cricket tragics. She was a natural.”
As much as they have encouraged their daughters, the fathers of both cricketers are grateful to the respective coaches for identifying and nurturing their talent. Kashvee’s father, Sudesh, says it was coach Nagesh Gupta who helped him and his daughter understand that she wasn’t just a bowler but has the potential to be an all-rounder.
“We got lucky that I met Nagesh sir. We thought she was a bowler. But Nagesh was not satisfied. He wanted her to become an all-rounder. He pushed her, and now she is reaping the rewards,” says Sudesh.
Opener Vrinda’s father Dinesh Subbappa, who has played league cricket with the current BCCI president Roger Binny, credits coach Kiran Uppoor. “She is very disciplined but credit to the coach Kiran,” says the father.
The coaches revealed the turning points from mini-setbacks that were vital in the journeys of the two players.
Kashvee’s coach Nagesh pinpoints how a fascination with speed nearly derailed her career. “You know kids these days. She saw a video of a young pacer bowling with a speed machine and suddenly tweaked her action, bowling biomechanics in search of more pace. She lost her strength, which was moving the ball both ways,” Nagesh says. “The good thing was she realised it after one season and returned to her basics. She got her swing back with the ball and started working on her swing with the bat. She bats at No. 5 and 6 for Chandigarh, and, in the past year, has evolved into a good all-rounder.”
Kashvee rose to fame after she took 10 wickets in an inning in an Under-19 One-Day Trophy game against Arunachal Pradesh in 2020 and a nine-wicket haul in the next match against Sikkim.
“Kashvee is still not a finished product, but she will reach there in a couple of years. She is a natural talent. She was picked for Punjab when she was just 13. Kashvee has a big in-swinger, which is why most of her wickets are either leg before or clean bowled,” says the coach.
Vrinda’s coach Kiran shares how his ward came to know about the jackpot. “The funny thing is she was in the nets and didn’t even know about it for a good hour,” laughs Kiran. He, too, speaks about a lucky break she caught. “The turning point was when she was not picked for the Under-19 state team. Earlier this year again she was not picked for the Emerging Team Cup held in Hong Kong. The Hyderabad seamer S Yashasri got injured and she went there as a replacement. In the final she scored 36 and India A won the match against Bangladesh. She was picked for the A series against England and now (got) the WPL contract,” Kiran says.
Both Kashvee and Vrinda have seen their best friends — Amanjot Kaur and Shreyanka Patil — playing for the national team. With their record-breaking earnings, they will inspire the next generation of young girls to take up cricket as a career option.