Chandigarh’s Kashvee most expensive uncapped WPL player

Deepankar Sharda

Chandigarh, December 9

From being ignored in the last year’s auction of the Women Premier League (WPL) to becoming the most expensive uncapped (Indian) player of the league history, Chandigarh’s Kashvee Gautam (20) surprised the cricket fraternity today.

The Indian uncapped bowler, Kashvee, fetched a Rs 2-crore deal from the Gujarat Giants in an exciting bidding contest during the auction. The city-based youngster has broken Vrinda Dinesh’s record who fetched Rs 1.3-crore deal from the Uttar Pradesh Warriorz. Kashvee was introduced to the auction with a base price of Rs 10 lakh.

Claim to fame

• The right-arm seamer caught experts’ attention in 2020 when she claimed a 10-wicket haul (including a hat-trick) for Chandigarh against Arunachal Pradesh.
• This year, she picked 12 wickets in seven games at an economy rate of 4.14 during the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy.
• In June, she was part of the triumphant U-23 Indian squad at the ACC Emerging tournament in Hong Kong.
• Recently, she was part of two games during the A series where she claimed three wickets for India A.

She went unsold in the last year’s auction.

“It will be an honour to play under the mentorship of Indian women’s cricket stalwart Mithali Raj. Considering the open slots, I was expecting to be picked up in this year’s auction. However, I didn’t expect this amount,” said Kashvee from Mumbai, where she is leading the local squad for the Women’s U-23 Trophy.

The right-arm seamer caught experts’ attention in 2020 when she claimed a 10-wicket haul (including a hat-trick) for Chandigarh against Arunachal Pradesh. In the match played at KSRM College in Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, Kashvee claimed 10 wickets for 12 off 29, wrapping up the Arunachal innings at 25 runs.

This year, she picked 12 wickets in seven games at an economy rate of 4.14 during the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy. In June, she was part of the triumphant U-23 Indian squad at the ACC Emerging tournament in Hong Kong.

Prior to taking cricket as a full-time career, Kashvee used to play gully cricket. A coach asked her to play under Nagesh Gupta (a former UT Sports Department coach) at the Sector 32 coaching centre. “There was no plan to take cricket seriously, until I joined UTCA. It’s an overnight fame, but a result of sheer hard work,” added Kashvee.

‘India A series was a real challenge’

“Playing in the recent India A series was a real challenge for me. Indian cricket team coach Amol Muzumdar really helped me in showcasing my talent. Back home, my coach Nagesh Gupta and my parents are really happy. I will hand over the entire earning to my parents, but after keeping some for my younger sister,” said Kashvee. She also thanked UTCA president Sanjay Tandon.