The Women's Premier League (WPL) is all set to return for its second season in 2024. The first edition of the tournament was a successful endeavour, helping to boost the popularity of women's cricket in India.
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Ahead of the new season, the player auction took place on December 9 in Mumbai, with teams looking to add a few key pieces to their squads. Last year's finalists Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians made just one significant purchase each, but the other three sides were fairly active.
The headlines from the auction belonged to a couple of uncapped players; Karnataka's Vrinda Dinesh and Chandigarh's Kashvee Gautam who joined UP Warriorz and Gujarat Giants for Rs 1.3 crores and Rs 2 crores respectively.
Who is Kashvee Gautam?
Dinesh became the most expensive uncapped player in WPL history when UP Warriorz acquired her services, but Gautam quickly broke that record as Gujarat Giants were willing to pay her the princely sum of Rs 2 crores.
MORE: Squads for all five teams in the WPL 2024
An all-rounder in the mould of national team mainstay Pooja Vastrakar, the 20-year-old Gautam is a promising young talent with both bat and ball. She is a tall pacer who hits the deck hard, and is more than capable of using the long handle to good effect when batting down the order.
Gautam caught the eye three years ago when representing Chandigarh in the Women's Under-19 One Day Trophy. She top-scored with 49 in the first innings before (literally) running through Arunachal Pradesh in the second innings. Gautam took all 10 wickets, including a hat-trick to finish with figures of 4.5-1-12-10 on the day.
Hat-trick ✅
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) February 25, 2020
10 wickets in a one-day game ✅
49 runs with the bat ✅
Leading from the front ✅
4.5-1-12-10! 👌👌
Kashvee Gautam stars as Chandigarh beat Arunachal Pradesh in the @paytm Women’s Under 19 One Day Trophy. 👏👏 #U19Oneday
Scorecard 👉👉 https://t.co/X8jDMMh5PS pic.twitter.com/GWUW9uUgtF
As per her coach Nagesh who spoke to Indian Express, "[When trying to bowl faster] she lost her strength, which was moving the ball both ways. 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.”
MORE: Who is Vrinda Dinesh?
A national team call-up may not be far away for Gautam, who was part of the victorious Indian women's Emerging Teams Asia Cup squad. She also represented India A against England A in the recently-concluded T20 series. Senior team head coach Amol Muzumdar was in attendance as she took 2/23 and 1/34 in the first two matches.
If she can deliver consistent performances in WPL season 2, Gautam could well be a late entrant into the India squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup in September 2024.
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