Chaos and life-changing money: What to expect from the inaugural women's IPL auction

Fifteen years after the inaugural Indian Premier League auction – the day when the free market upended men’s cricket – it is the turn of the women’s game. In the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai on Monday, over 400 cricketers will be up for sale, hoping to attract life-changing bids.

By the end of the day, up to 90 cricketers will be sold. The five franchises in the inaugural season of the Women’s Premier League have a combined 60 crore rupees – about £6 million – to spend. And so, while there is a T20 World Cup going on in South Africa – England’s second game, against Ireland, begins a few hours after the auction – players will hardly be able to stop their minds drifting to Mumbai.

“The WPL is going to be a complete game-changer,” England captain Heather Knight has said. “The money that's going to come in and the perceptions of the women's game around the world…”

Just like in the first IPL auction, no one is exactly sure what to expect. There is a slightly chaotic air to the first season of the WPL. A matter of days away from the auction, some coaching teams had yet to be confirmed. “It’s all very last minute,” says one leading cricket agent.

One prediction that auction insiders make with some confidence is that Smriti Mandhana, India’s brilliant batter, will be the most expensive player. It is suggested that a franchise could spend one-quarter of their £1.2 million budget – £300,000 – on Mandhana, meaning that her proportion of the team’s purse would be in line with the sums leading Indian men’s players, like MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli, have earned in the IPL.