Mumbai batter Simran Shaikh Simran, earlier with UP Warriorz, emerged the costliest uncapped India player after she was acquired by Gujarat Giants (GG) for R1.9 crore in the Women’s Premier League Player Auction in Bangalore on Sunday. Simran was a member of the Mumbai and India E title-winning teams in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy and Challenger Trophy respectively.

“I never imagined that a WPL team would buy me for such a huge amount. I am very happy that GG gave me a chance to play for them. I was just expecting that a team would take me for my base price of Rs 10 lakh,” a pleasantly surprised Simran told mid-day from Ahmedabad, where she is playing the Senior Women’s One Day Trophy. “I was watching the WPL auction with my teammates on television and everyone was excited when my name appeared. They prayed for me. And when GG took me, it was celebration time with everyone congratulating me.