Mumbai: The UP Warriorz have given the cricket fans in the state of Uttar Pradesh a lot to cheer about, having signed on the creme dela creme in terms of cricketing talent on Monday evening.
At the first-ever player auction ahead of the 2023 Women’s Premier League held here, the UP Warriorz were the fastest to react when Deepti Sharma’s name came out of the bag, making her the most expensive player in the squad. The UP Warriorz broke the bank with a bid of INR 2.6 crore, the third highest at the auction.
Deepti, who hails from the city of Agra, was UP Warriorz’s first Indian pick at the Auction. The 24-year-old, who is one of the mainstays of the Indian women’s team, made her debut on November 28, 2014 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru against South Africa in the series decider.
“This is a great opportunity and since I belong to UP so I am feeling quite good about this too. I want to do the very best for the UP Warriorz side in the WPL. This is a new beginning for us too and we had been waiting for such an opportunity for a while, and my role will be simply to put on the best possible showing for my side, so that I can contribute to the team,” Deepti said.
She has taken 97 wickets in 88 matches with a stellar economy of 6.13 at the international stage and is currently ranked 3rd in ICC’s T20I bowling rankings. Deepti is a very capable batter in T20s also averaging 26 runs with a useful strike-rate of 106.53. An effective off-break bowler, gritty batter, and an acrobatic fielder Deepti is the complete package who possesses great situation-assessing skills which will come in handy in the shortest format of the game.
Across her career, Deepti has had prolific stints in franchise cricket outside India in the Western Storm (Kia Super League), Sydney Thunder (WBBL), Birmingham Phoenix, and London Spirit (both The Hundred).
“We are delighted to have been able to acquire the services of the best cricketers from the state of Uttar Pradesh. Deepti Sharma and Parshavi Chopra are absolute icons and history makers and at Capri Global Holdings Private Limited we knew we wanted our local stars to be part of the mix. The addition of these two icons will surely help build a bigger fan base for the UP Warriorz, and we want the family to expand,” said Rajesh Sharma, Managing Director, Capri Global Holdings Private Limited, the owners of of UP Warriorz.
While Deepti is one of the more established names in the cricketing circuit in India, the UP Warriorz also swooped in to secure the services of Parshavi Chopra (INR 10 Lakhs), who comes from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh.
The 16-year-old bowling All-rounder was one of the standout performers for the Indian U-19 Women’s team, who won the inaugural U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup in 2023. The Leg-break bowler picked up 15 wickets in 10 matches during the youth tournament. Also hailing from UP is batter Laxmi Yadav, who was the 15th pick for the UP Warriorz, while 18-year-old Simran Shaikh from Mumbai was their 16th and final pick at the inaugural Women’s Premier League Auction for a base price of INR 10 Lakhs.
The UP Warriorz were the first team to reach the mark of picking a minimum of 15 players for the squad with 6 overseas players in the set-up in the likes of Sophie Ecclestone (INR 1.8 Cr), Tahlia McGrath (INR 1.4 Cr), Shabnim Ismail (INR 1 Cr), Alyssa Healy (INR 70 Lakh), Grace Harris (INR 75 Lakh) and Lauren Bell (INR 30 Lakh).
Full UP Warriorz Squad:
UP Warriorz Squad: Sophie Ecclestone (INR 1.8 Cr), Deepti Sharma (INR 2.6 Cr), Tahlia McGrath (INR 1.4 Cr), Shabnim Ismail (INR 1 Cr), Alyssa Healy (INR 70 Lakh), Anjali Sarvani (INR 55 Lakh), Rajeshwari Gayakwad (INR 40 Lakhs), Parshavi Chopra (INR 10 Lakh), Shweta Sehrawat (INR 40 Lakh), S Yashasri (INR 10 Lakh), Kiran Navgire (INR 30 Lakh), Grace Harris (INR 75 Lakh), Devika Vaidya (INR 1.4 Cr), Lauren Bell (INR 30 Lakh), Laxmi Yadav (INR 10 Lakh) and Simran Shaikh (INR 10 Lakh).
–IANS