‘Extremely happy’: Delhi Capitals acquire Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma in WPL 2023 auction

Mumbai: The Delhi Capitals acquired exciting Indian players in the first half of the WPL 2023 Player Auction held here on Monday.

The franchise bagged batter Jemimah Rodrigues (INR 2.2 crore) and all-rounders Radha Yadav (INR 40 lakh) and Shikha Pandey (INR 60 lakh) along with the U-19 Women T20 World Cup winners Shafali Verma (INR 2 core) and Titas Sadhu (INR 25 lakh). Delhi Capitals also picked up Australia Women’s team Captain Meg Lanning (INR 1.1 core) and South African all-rounder Marizanne Kapp (INR 1.5 crore).

Speaking about his team’s buys in the first half, Delhi Capitals’ co-owner Parth Jindal said, “We are extremely happy. Obviously, some of the early names that we went for, the prices went very high, so we had to pull out. But if we look back at how the three rounds have gone, we’re happy. We have a legend of the game in Meg Lanning, We have Jemimah, who has done tremendously well. She is from Mumbai, so playing in Mumbai is going to be a big advantage for her. And then Shafali, she has just won the U-19 World Cup. She plays for the women’s main team as well. She is from the Delhi NCR region, being from Haryana, so it helps us with our fans as well.”

“We are looking for all-rounders now. We’re looking for bowlers. We’re looking to obviously make the squad. When we came into the auction, we had a very clear-cut strategy that we were going to build a very competitive squad of 15. We didn’t want star players; we wanted a very good squad so that the coach can have a very tough choice in selecting the 11. And that is going to be the endeavour (for the second half),” he added.

Meanwhile, Delhi Capitals’ co-owner GM Ruchir expressed, “We are very happy with the buys. We have got great players like Jemimah, and Shafali. Our go-to player was Kapp, we have got her. Now we want to focus more on youngsters, who could be backup options. Mainly we are sorted with our core of Indian players, we are concentrating more on the bowlers as well. It is going to be a great platform for all the women youngsters. As we have seen in the men’s team, we have always backed youngsters and we are going to do the same here as well.”

The first buy of the WPL 2023 auction for Delhi Capitals was star India batter Jemimah Rodrigues, who was acquired for INR 2.2 crore. The 22-year-old, who played a match-winning knock 38-ball unbeaten 53 against Pakistan in India’s opening match at the ongoing Women’s T20 World Cup, has scored as many as 1628 runs in 76 matches, with a strike rate of 113.44 in her career.

Australia women’s team captain Meg Lanning, who was acquired by the Capitals for INR 1.1 crore, is arguably one of the most successful cricketers in women’s cricket history. She has been part of as many as six World Cup-winning campaigns (Four T20 World Cup titles and two ODI World Cup titles). The experienced batter has scored 3297 runs at an average of 36.23 in 127 T20Is. She has two tons and 15 half-centuries to her name.

The Delhi Capitals acquired India’s U-19 World Cup-winning captain Shafali Verma for INR 2 crore. The big-hitting opener was the third-highest run-scorer at the recently held U-19 Women’s World Cup. She scored 172 runs in seven matches at a strike rate of 193.25. The 19-year-old has thus far scored as many as 1264 runs in 52 matches in her T20I career.

Radha Yadav was picked up by the Delhi Capitals for INR 40 lakh. The 22-year-old spin-bowling all-rounder has taken 67 wickets in 64 T20Is at an economy of 6.56.

India all-rounder Shikha Pandey, who was bought for INR 60 lakh, has taken 40 wickets in 59 matches. The 33-year-old from Telangana has scored 207 runs in 27 innings in her T20I career.

Marizanne Kapp, who was purchased for INR 1.5 crore, is an experienced campaigner and has played international cricket across all three formats for South Africa. She has scored 1131 runs in 89 matches and has taken 68 wickets in her T20I career so far.

The U-19 Women’s World Cup winner Titas Sadhu was acquired for INR 25 lakh. The right-arm pacer from West Bengal bagged the Player-of-the Match award for her match-winning 2/6 figures in the recently held U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup final against England.

–IANS