Legendary Indian pacer Jhulan Goswami has been roped in by the Mumbai based franchise ahead of the inaugural season of the Women's Premier League (WPL) this year. The development was reportedly confirmed by former BCCI President and current Director of the Delhi Capitals who said that while even the Delhi side had offered Jhulan a role, she was going to Mumbai.
The 40-year-old retired from international cricket last year, having scalped 355 wickets across formats.
"Jhulan has gone to Mumbai," Ganguly told media at Eden Gardens on Tuesday. "We had given her an offer, but she is going to Mumbai."
WPL Auction Either on Feb 11 Or Feb 13
The player auction for the first-ever season of the tournament will be held in February 11 in New Delhi or February 13 in Mumbai. A final call in that regard is yet to be taken by the BCCI.
While the initial plan was to have the auctions on February 6 in Mumbai, giving the five new franchises a little under a month to gear up for the T20 extravaganza, the Indian Cricket Board were forced to change the plan as the majority of the franchise owners also have a team in the ILT20 in the UAE and SA20 in South Africa. The finals of these competitions are on February 12 and 11 respectively after which the officials can come to the auction.
In addition, the franchises haven't yet finalised their coaching staff which is why all of them together requested the Board if they could push back the date of the auction.
Inaugural WPL Likely To Be Conducted in Mumbai
Meanwhile, the first season of the Women's Premier League is likely to be conducted in Mumbai. It is being reported that at least twi venues- Brabourne Stadium and the DY Patil Cricket Academy in Navi Mumbai - have been shortlisted for the 22 matches that are to be played in season one.
This is because the BCCI wants to remove travel obstacles as the players will already be coming after an intense Women's T20 World Cup ending in February 26 in South Africa. The WPL, meanwhile, is likely to take place between March 4 and 24.