Mumbai, Feb 14 (IANS): In the inaugural Women's Premier League (WPL) player auction on Monday, Gujarat Giants signed up exciting players like Australian duo of Ashleigh Gardner, and Beth Mooney, as well as Indian pair of Harleen Deol and Sneh Rana.

After a heated bidding war, Gujarat opened their account by picking Ashleigh for INR 3.2 crores, the joint second highest and joint most-expensive buy at the auction. The 3-time World Champion has been one of the pillars of strength for Australia, and opened her 2023 T20 World Cup with a 5/12 against New Zealand.

Beth, a two-time T20 World Cup winner, has scored two centuries and 17 fifties in T20Is and has been one of the stars in the Women's BBL, helping the Brisbane Heat to back-to-back titles in 2018 and 2019, before moving to Perth Scorchers, where she helped them win their first title in the 2021/22.

Their first Indian pick was Harleen, who's famous catch at the boundary against England took the cricketing world by storm. She is also a solid batter and quite useful with her spin bowling too. She was also part of the Indian team that won silver medal at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

"This marks a new beginning for all of us associated with the Adani Sportsline-owned Gujarat Giants. My team and I are thrilled to leave the table feeling delighted with the squad we have put together. With all our bases covered, from here onwards we begin our preparation for the upcoming tournament," said Mithali Raj, mentor, and advisor for Gujarat Giants, in an official statement.

Gujarat went on to add a plethora of experience by getting West Indies all-rounder Deandra Dottin. The 31-year-old, with more than 100 caps for WI, has played franchise cricket in UK, Australia and the Caribbean, apart from having turned for the Trailblazers and Supernovas in the Women's T20 Challenge. She also boasts of best figures of 5/5 and two centuries in T20Is and is one of the stalwarts in the modern game and has played in every edition of the T20 World Cup from 2009 to 2020.

"The Gujarat Giants' squad looks solid for the inaugural edition of the Women's Premier League. We have an eclectic mix of Indian and international players, all of whom can turn a game on its head single-handedly. As a coach, I will always cherish this auction experience," said the team's head coach, Rachael Haynes.

They also brought in some very talented Indian players like Mansi Joshi, Dayalan Hemalatha, Sushma Verma and Tanuja Kanwer, and young seam-bowling all-rounder Hurley Gala, who was coached by Jemimah Rodrigues' father in Mumbai and was also part of the Indian U-19 side that won the T20 World Cup in 2023 January in South Africa.

"The Gujarat Giants' squad is quite a well-balanced one and we have a strong set of young Indian players, who are waiting to write their names in the history books of the sport in this country. The youngsters will definitely benefit a lot from being around some of the best international cricketers, and we hope this process helps us unearth legends of the future," said Nooshin Al Khadeer, bowling coach of the Gujarat Giants team.

Gujarat ended the auction by assembling a strong and well-balanced squad of 18 players with 12 Indian and 6 overseas players - four Australian players, one from England and another from West Indies.

The inaugural edition of the Women's Premier League will commence in Mumbai from March 4 - 26, 2023. A total of 22 matches will be played at the Brabourne Stadium and at the DY Patil Stadium.