'Historic thing' - Rohit Sharma, R Ashwin express excitement ahead of WPL auction

The Women's Premier League auction is just round the corner and India cricketers Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin and Dinesh Karthik expressed their thoughts about the marquee event as well as the inaugural edition of the tournament.

The WPL auction will be held at Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai on February 13 where the five franchises will be seen in action to build their squads, picking from 409 women cricketers available in the auction list. Meanwhile, the tournament will commence on March 4, with the final scheduled on March 26. 

“There are more than 400 players who will go under the hammer. Yeah, it’s a nervous time, but an exciting time as well,” Indian skipper Rohit  said in a video released by the BCCI.

Rohit stated that the WPL would definitely open up a lot of new opportunities for women cricketers all around the world. He added that the auctions are always a nervous moment, but they are equally exciting and all the cricketers should just enjoy themselves.

“A historic thing that has happened in women's cricket is the Women's Premier League which will take place in a few days' time and the auction will happen. I would like to wish all five teams the very best. There are more than 400 players who will go under the hammer," said Rohit.

"Yes, it's a nervous time but it is an exciting time as well. It has certainly opened a lot of avenues for a lot of cricketers around the world, to showcase their talent because it is going to be a massive stage. As we all know, we have seen it with the men's league. So, the Women's Premier League is going to be no different. I would like to wish everyone the very best,” he added.

Hope that the landscape of the women's game can change forever: R Ashwin

Meanwhile, Rohit's teammate R Ashwin could not contain his excitement either and stated that he is eagerly waiting for the WPL auctions. The 36-year-old said that the WPL was long due and it was about time each and every budding woman cricketer got such a platform to showcase their talent.

"I think it was about time that the women in our country got the opportunity to compete at the highest level. Clearly, our women's team has done exceedingly well at World Championships. They've been very good at the World Cups, the T20 world Cups, and everything," said Ashwin.

"Over the last few years, we have already seen the women's T20 challenge go ahead really well. Now that the TV rights and franchises have been sold at some incredible cost, I can only hope that the landscape of the women's game can change forever. I'm looking forward to the WPL more than ever. However the first league, it is going to be an interesting concept of having an auction. I hope the girls are damn excited because I am," he added.

Indian wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik, who plays for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, said that WPL will popularise women’s cricket in the country. 

"In the last five years, women's cricket around the world has really picked up and luckily for me, I was a part of another tournament in England [The Hundred] where I could see the kind of interest that young girls had in coming and watching matches to see their idols play. And now, that will happen in India. And that's what you want, you want the young girls to have a look at their heroes, to see what they do on a daily basis, and that is something I'm really looking forward to," said Karthik.

"We are going to see names not only from the international caliber and the Indian international caliber, but we are also going to see some small domestic cricketers put their name up and when they go on to do something special when their name gets called out, every young girl watching that will be like 'I want to play this sport too because I want the auctioneer to call my name and I want to represent my country and my franchise to prove in this tournament', and that is exactly what you're going to see," he added.

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