White Ferns enter IPL auction

White Ferns captain Sophie Devine is among those vying for a place in the inaugural Women’s Indian Premier League.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT

A total of 409 players including 19 from New Zealand have put their names forward for the inaugural Women’s Indian Premier League cricket auction.

The list of New Zealand players includes both current White Ferns and a number of domestic players.

White Ferns captain Sophie Devine, along with Suzie Bates, Amelia Kerr, Maddy Green and Lea Tahuhu head the list of New Zealand hopefuls.

The BCCI said it had received 1525 registrations, out of which 246 Indians and 163 overseas players from 14 countries made the final list.

24 players, including Devine have listed themselves at the highest base price of NZ$96,000.

Green, who has played a limited role in the Big Bash and England’s The Hundred says she’d love to be involved.

Maddy Green can see the benefits of the Women’s IPL.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT

“We’ve seen what the men’s IPL did to cricket in India and I don’t suspect that it’s going to be any different in the women’s game and so any cricketer, any female cricketer, would absolutely love to be a part of it it’s going to be a fantastic tournament.”

Green saw the benefits for the women’s game globally.

“Obviously the money that’s being talked about is significant and could be life altering for some people so there could be some players around the world that go for pretty significant chunks of change.”

Apart from India, the final list includes players from Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Ireland, Zimbabwe, and also eight Associate players from UAE, Hong Kong, Thailand, Netherlands and USA.

The five franchises will have a purse of about NZ$2.3m to spend on forming their teams.

Each squad comprising between 15 and 18 players can contain up to six overseas players.

$890m was spent last month to but the five franchises.

The player auction starts next week with the tournament to run between March 4 and 26.