New Delhi, Nov 27 – UP Warriorz cricket director Kshemal Waingankar told LatestNewsX that “too early to say” who will captain the franchise in the next Women’s Premier League season, after securing the return of Deepti Sharma and bringing Australian star Meg Lanning on board.
During the massive New Delhi auction, Sharma, who was named Player of the Tournament at the recent Women’s ODI World Cup, emerged as the joint second‑most expensive pick in WPL history when the Warriors used a Right‑to‑Match ticket to re‑acquire her for INR 3.2 crore. The side also signed Lanning for INR 1.9 crore.
“We will discuss that, I mean it’s too early to say. It depends on how the squad comes through and we’ll have to have a conversation. We’ll have to have a conversation with Deepti, understand the dynamics with the leadership, and we haven’t thought that through yet.” Waingankar said in the press briefing.
“Definitely expected the price to be in the range of what we saw. As you see, we tried to go for Amelia Kerr, and she went up to three crores. It’s the premium that you pay for high quality spin bowling all‑rounder and there was no doubt that we wanted her back,” he added.
When asked why Deepti wasn’t retained previously, Waingankar noted that “there were certain dynamics in the entire auction process and the retention process. So since we had Abhishek now coming at the helm, I think we wanted to give him a clean slate and to be able to figure out what his vision is and try to build a squad together.” He went on to say, “We had no doubt that we’d be able to bring Deepti back, which we have and we’re very delighted to be able to bring her back as well. To add to that, we’ve also been able to bring Sophie back and a leader like Meg Lanning in the mix as well. So I think so far it’s played out well, let’s see how the rest of the auction goes.”
Gujarat Giants head coach Michael Klinger praised the acquisition of New Zealand all‑rounder Sophie Devine for INR 2 crore and Indian pacer Renuka Singh Thakur for INR 60 lakh. “It adds eight overs of really high quality bowling and they add experience due to both of them being World Cup winners. Renuka can give us a really good start with the new ball and Sophie can bowl in all three phases and bat anywhere from one to six. Two picks were really important for us in terms of giving us that flexibility and now we’ll see how we go in the coming sets,” he said.
Stay informed on all the latest news, real-time breaking news updates, and follow all the important headlines in world News on Latest NewsX. Follow us on social media Facebook, Twitter(X), Gettr and subscribe our Youtube Channel.
