New Delhi: India’s off-spin all-rounder Sneh Rana and New Zealand pacer Lea Tahuhu are among the big names to be released by Gujarat Giants (GG) ahead of the 2025 Women’s Premier League (WPL) auction, to be held next month.
Apart from Sneh and Lea, GG have let go of Scotland skipper Kathryn Bryce, Australia left-arm pacer Lauren Cheatle, India left-arm spinner Mannat Kashyap and batter Veda Krishnamurthy, and uncapped all-rounder Tarannum Pathan.
GG finished at the bottom of both WPL seasons so far, and have now decided to let go of Sneh, who captained them in the inaugural season after captain Beth Mooney was ruled out due to a calf injury in the opening match of the tournament.
In 12 WPL games, Sneh has picked just six wickets, with an economy rate of 9.02, while making 47 runs with the bat. In WPL 2024, Lea took just one wicket in two matches she was in the playing eleven. Kathryn, meanwhile, played eight games in WPL 2024, averaging 20.75 with the bat and maintaining an economy rate of 8.66 with her seam-up bowling.
“Sneh Rana wasn’t guaranteed a spot in our starting XI. Ash Gardner is there and we have Priya Mishra, up and coming spinner. It’s a really harsh call. She’s great around the group and is experienced. It was a hard decision.”
“But we felt, going forward, we have some improvements to do and some tough calls to make and that’s why we went that way,” Gujarat Giants head coach Michael Klinger said to broadcasters.
GG’s retained players include captain Beth Mooney, Ashleigh Gardner, Dayalan Hemalatha, Harleen Deol, Laura Wolvaardt, Shabnam Shakil, Tanuja Kanwer, Phoebe Litchfield, Meghna Singh, Kashvee Gautam, Priya Mishra, Mannat Kashyap, Bharti Fulmali and Sayali Satghare.
On the other hand, UP Warriorz (UPW) have released four players in England pacer Lauren Bell, uncapped wicketkeeper-batter Laxmi Yadav, and India U19 Women’s T20 World Cup winning duo of pacer S Yashasri and leg-spinner Parshavi Chopra. The side had earlier traded England opener Danni Wyatt-Hodge to Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
UPW’s retained players included skipper Alyssa Healy, Grace Harris, Deepti Sharma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Chamari Athapaththu, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Ecclestone, Anjali Sarvani, Kiran Navgire, Gouher Sultana, Poonam Khemnar, Saima Thakor, Shweta Sehrawat, Uma Chetry and Vrinda Dinesh.
The auction for WPL 2025 will be held next month, with UPW having a purse of Rs 3.9 crore and GG having Rs 4.4 crore in their kitty.
–IANS
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