 "Simran Shaikh became the costliest buy at the 2025 Women's Premier League (WPL) auction after she was acquired for Rs 1.90 crore by Gujarat Giants. Image: BCCI")
Young all-rounder Simran Shaikh was the costliest buy at the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2025 auction on Monday after she was acquired for Rs 1.90 crore by Gujarat Giants. Simran Shaikh was one of the four players that the Gujarat Giants acquired, with the others being Deandra Dottin (Rs 1.70 crore), Danielle Gibson (Rs 30 lakh) and Prakashika Naik (Rs 10 lakh).
Simran entered the auction with a base price of Rs 10 lakh, and the Gujarat Giants had to battle it out against Delhi Capitals to secure the services of the youngster.
Who is Simran Shaikh?
Simran Shaikh was born in Mumbai’s Dharavi on 12 January, 2002. Her father is an electrician, and she has four sisters and five brothers. She started playing cricket at the age of 15 when she used to play with boys in Dharavi. Simran’s cricketing career eventually took off when she joined the United Club in Mumbai.
She impressed in local leagues and was eventually selected in the Mumbai U19 women’s cricket team. During the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy recently, Simran scored 176 runs from 11 matches for Mumbai at a strike-rate of 100.57.
The UP Warriorz had snapped up Simran for the inaugural WPL season in 2023, but she endured a forgettable season, scoring just 29 runs from nine matches. The Warriorz then released Simran ahead of the 2024 auction, and at the WPL 2024 player auction, Simran went unsold.
Deandra Dottin returns to the franchise she represented in 2023. West Indies’ Dottin had been snapped up by the Giants at the WPL 2023 auction but was excluded from the squad following her inability to obtain a medical certificate. Dottin, however, debunked those claims.
Michael Klinger, the Giants head coach, said that the franchise was looking to get both Dottin and Simran. “We were targeting Dottin and Simran. They bring in power and batting at a high strike rate. That often creates a winning culture, so I’m really excited for our first two picks,” he told the official broadcasters.