The window for the five franchises to announce the list of their retained players for the WPL 2024 came to an end on October 15, 2023. And after the completion of the retention period, the BCCI announced a full retention list of all five franchisees on Thursday.
While 60 players including 21 overseas players were retained across five franchisees there are around 29 players who were released from their existing squads. Starting with Defending Champions, Mumbai Indians have retained their Captain Harmanpreet Kaur apart from the Purple cap winner Hayley Matthews. They further retained the ‘Emerging Players of the Season’ Yastika Bhatia, and ‘Player of the Final’ Natalie Sciver-Brunt as well. Meanwhile, prolific players like Heather Graham, Dhara Gujjar, Sonam Yadav, and Neelam Bisht have been released by MI.
On the other hand, UP Warriorz has retained its core group of players & has decided to retain the services of its five overseas players. While much to our surprise Proteas ace pacer, Shabnim Ismail has been released from the lineup. Other notable players who have been released by the squad are Devika Vaidya, Simran Shaikh, and Shivali Shinde. Coming to RCB they have retained their skip Smriti Mandhana apart from Asha Shobana, Disha Kasat, Ellyse Perry, Heather Knight, Indrani Roy, Kanika Ahuja, Renuka Singh, Richa Ghosh, Shreyanka Patil and Sophie Devine.
JSW & GMR co-owned Delhi Franchise has retained a total of 15 players including 5 overseas players. They ended ties with Wicketkeeper-batter Aparna Mondal, opener Jasia Akhter, and American fast-bowling all-rounder Tara Norris.
Notably the much-awaited Women’s Premier League 2024 auction will be held later this year & as the retention process is completed the teams will have a clear idea about how much purse is left with them for the auction of WPL 2024.
WPL 2024 Players’ Retention List
Delhi Capitals (DC)
Retained Players: Alice Capsey*, Arundhati Reddy, Jemimah Rodrigues, Jess Jonassen*, Laura Harris*, Marizanne Kapp*, Meg Lanning*, Minnu Mani, Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav, Shefali Verma, Shikha Pandey, Sneha Deepthi, Taniyaa Bhatia, Titas Sadhu
Released Players: Aparna Mondal, Jasia Akhter, Tara Norris*
Gujarat Giants (GG)
Retained Players: Ashleigh Gardner*, Beth Mooney*, Dayalan Hemalatha, Harleen Deol, Laura Wolvaardt*, Shabnam Shakil, Sneh Rana, Tanuja Kanwer
Released Players: Annabel Sutherland*, Ashwani Kumari, Georgia Wareham*, Hurley Gala, Kim Garth*, Mansi Joshi, Monica Patel, Parunika Sisodia, Sabbineni Meghana, Sophia Dunkley*, Sushma Verma
Mumbai Indians (MI)
Retained Players: Amanjot Kaur, Amelia Kerr*, Chloe Tryon*, Harmanpreet Kaur, Hayley Matthews*, Humairaa Kaazi, Isabelle Wong*, Jintimani Kalita, Natalie Sciver*, Pooja Vastrakar, Priyanka Bala, Saika Ishaque, Yastika Bhatia
Released Players: Dhara Gujjar, Heather Graham*, Neelam Bisht, Sonam Yadav
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)
Retained Players: Asha Shobana, Disha Kasat, Ellyse Perry*, Heather Knight*, Indrani Roy, Kanika Ahuja, Renuka Singh, Richa Ghosh, Shreyanka Patil, Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Devine*
Released Players: Dané Van Niekerk*, Erin Burns*, Komal Zanzad, Megan Schutt*, Poonam Khemnar, Preeti Bose, Sahana Pawar
UP Warriorz (UPW)
Retained Players: Alyssa Healy*, Anjali Sarvani, Deepti Sharma, Grace Harris*, Kiran Navgire, Lauren Bell*, Laxmi Yadav, Parshavi Chopra, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, S. Yashasri, Shweta Sehrawat, Sophie Ecclestone*, Tahlia Mcgrath*
Released Players: Devika Vaidya, Shabnim Ismail*, Shivali Shinde, Simran Shaikh
*Overseas Players
Is a different window for WPL 2024 on Cards?
The BCCI is planning to switch the WPL 2024 window from March to Diwali in a home-and-away format. After announcing the retention list of WPL 2024, Jay Shah told reporters about the development. Though the WPL 2023 was held around the March-April window, the BCCI is keen to organize the Women’s Premier League 2024 in the October-November Window. The only issue with their plan is that Cricket Australia organizes the Women’s Big Bash League during that window & there are many Australian players in all five franchises. So if WPL will be held in the October-November window then it will create a huge question mark on the availability of Australian players. However, there is no final decision taken about changing the window of WPL 2024. However, Jay Shah is happy with the fact that they could get a 2.5-month window reserved for IPL in the future. And it comes as the biggest achievement for them as they have moved from 2 2-month window to 2.5 months.
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