Modern cricket nowadays centres around franchise cricket, whether traditional fans like it or not. And in franchise cricket, player recruitment is often its most eye-catching segment as players receive fabulous pay cheques for a few weeks of work.
Indian franchise cricket has made that into a spectacle as well, with player auctions attracting a sizeable number of eyeballs, not only from hopeful cricketers but also cricket fans who want to see how much teams are willing to spend to acquire the services of top players.
This year's Women's Premier League had a similar story. The tournament held a mini auction in Bengaluru with a limited pool of 124 players (91 Indian and 29 overseas) fighting for a handful of spots in the five franchises – Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Delhi Capitals, Gujarat Giants and UP Warriorz.
While all the top players in the women's game had already been retained, there were some talented players who were in the auction pool and they attracted decent bids.
Among them, Mumbai cricketer Simran Shaikh emerged as the most sought-after player, eventually snapped up by Gujarat Giants for $224,000. Veteran West Indies player Deandra Dottin was also in high demand, attracting a bid of $200,000 from Gujarat.
The mini auction proved once again the growing popularity of the T20 league, which has become one of the most valuable products in the women's game.
The Indian cricket board earned a staggering $570 million from bids for the five franchises, while broadcast rights for the tournament went for over $110m. That made the WPL the second most valuable women's sports league after the WNBA.
Following the latest player auction, here are the highest-paid women's cricketers in WPL. Indian batting star Smriti Mandhana remains the top-earning cricketer in the game with a salary of close to half a million dollars.
Highest-paid cricketers in WPL 2025
1. Smriti Mandhana (Bengaluru): 34 million rupees ($400,000)
2. Ashleigh Gardner (Gujarat): 32 million rupees ($377,000)
3. Natalie Sciver-Brunt (Mumbai): 32 million rupees ($377,000)
4. Deepti Sharma (UP): 26 million rupees ($306,000)
5. Jemimah Rodrigues (Delhi): 22 million rupees ($260,000)
6. Beth Mooney (Gujarat): 20 million rupees ($235,000)
7. Shafali Verma (Delhi): 20 million rupees ($235,000)
8. Annabel Sutherland (Delhi): 20 million rupees ($235,000)
9. Kashvee Gautam (Gujarat): 20 million rupees ($235,000)
10. Pooja Vastrakar (Mumbai): 19 million rupees ($224,000)
11. Richa Ghosh (Bengaluru): 19m rupees ($224,000)
12. Simran Shaikh* (Gujarat): 19 million rupees ($224,000)
13. Sophie Ecclestone (UP): 18 million rupees ($212,000)
14. Harmanpreet Kaur (Mumbai): 18 million rupees ($212,000)
15. Deandra Dottin* (Gujarat): 17 million rupees ($200,000)
16. Ellyse Perry (Bengaluru): 17 million rupees ($200,000)
17. G Kamilini* (Mumbai): 16 million rupees ($188,000)
18. Renuka Singh (Bengaluru): 15 million rupees ($176,000)
19. Yastika Bhatia (Mumbai): 15 million rupees ($176,000)
20. Marizanne Kapp (Delhi): 15 million rupees ($176,000)
* denotes new recruits
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion
The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.
Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".
The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.
He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.
"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.
As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.
Asia Cup 2018 Qualifier
Sunday's results:
- UAE beat Malaysia by eight wickets
- Nepal beat Singapore by four wickets
- Oman v Hong Kong, no result
Tuesday fixtures:
- Malaysia v Singapore
- UAE v Oman
- Nepal v Hong Kong
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3ECompany%20name%3A%20CarbonSifr%3Cbr%3EStarted%3A%202022%3Cbr%3EBased%3A%20Dubai%3Cbr%3EFounders%3A%20Onur%20Elgun%2C%20Mustafa%20Bosca%20and%20Muhammed%20Yildirim%3Cbr%3ESector%3A%20Climate%20tech%3Cbr%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%241%20million%20raised%20in%20seed%20funding%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
ICC men's cricketer of the year
2004 - Rahul Dravid (IND) ; 2005 - Jacques Kallis (SA) and Andrew Flintoff (ENG); 2006 - Ricky Ponting (AUS); 2007 - Ricky Ponting; 2008 - Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI); 2009 - Mitchell Johnson (AUS); 2010 - Sachin Tendulkar (IND); 2011 - Jonathan Trott (ENG); 2012 - Kumar Sangakkara (SL); 2013 - Michael Clarke (AUS); 2014 - Mitchell Johnson; 2015 - Steve Smith (AUS); 2016 - Ravichandran Ashwin (IND); 2017 - Virat Kohli (IND); 2018 - Virat Kohli; 2019 - Ben Stokes (ENG); 2021 - Shaheen Afridi
Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
- Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
- Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
- Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
- Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
- Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
What%20is%20Dungeons%20%26%20Dragons%3F%20
%3Cp%3EDungeons%20%26amp%3B%20Dragons%20began%20as%20an%20interactive%20game%20which%20would%20be%20set%20up%20on%20a%20table%20in%201974.%20One%20player%20takes%20on%20the%20role%20of%20dungeon%20master%2C%20who%20directs%20the%20game%2C%20while%20the%20other%20players%20each%20portray%20a%20character%2C%20determining%20its%20species%2C%20occupation%20and%20moral%20and%20ethical%20outlook.%20They%20can%20choose%20the%20character%E2%80%99s%20abilities%2C%20such%20as%20strength%2C%20constitution%2C%20dexterity%2C%20intelligence%2C%20wisdom%20and%20charisma.%20In%20layman%E2%80%99s%20terms%2C%20the%20winner%20is%20the%20one%20who%20amasses%20the%20highest%20score.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
When is VAR used?
• Goals
• Penalty decisions
• Direct red-card incidents
• Mistaken identity
