Who is Kashvee Gautam? 5 interesting facts about Gujarat Giants' ₹2 crore signing at WPL 2024 Auction

The Women's Premier League (WPL) auction for the 2024 edition successfully took place in Mumbai on Saturday, December 9. The mini-auction saw all five teams splash out ₹12.75 crore for a total of 30 players.

The two most sought-after players at the auction were Annabel Sutherland and Kashvee Gautam. Both were picked up for ₹2 crore. Sutherland was snapped up by the Delhi Capitals (DC).

While it was expected for Sutherland to attract some bids, Kashvee Gautam's meteoric rise in the auction grabbed many eyeballs.

Gujarat Giants (GGT) and the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) started the bidding war for Gautam, whose base price was set at ₹10 lakh. After the ₹65 lakh mark, RCB opted out of the race, and UP Warriorz (UPW) started to target the player.

Eventually, Gujarat's bid of ₹2 crore proved to be the highest, as Gautam became the most expensive uncapped player in WPL history.

It was a surreal moment for GGT and Gautam, who went unsold at the 2023 auction. After getting unsold in the inaugural edition, the seam-bowling all-rounder focused on increasing her pace and produced some brilliant performances on the domestic circuit.

Since Kashvee Gautam has become the joint-most expensive player at the WPL 2024 auction, here are five interesting facts about her that you probably didn't know.

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#5 Played for India A Women's team a few weeks ago

On the back of her impressive domestic performances, the BCCI selected Kashvee Gautam for the India A women's team.

On November 24, Gautam was named in the 16-member squad for three T20s against England A women's team. The England A team won the series 2-1. Gautam featured in two games.

She took the new ball in both of those games and bagged three wickets at an economy rate of 7.27.

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#4 She was among the reserves for the Asian Games 2023

The Indian women's team participated in the Asian Games 2023 earlier this year. While the Women in Blue won the tournament by beating Sri Lanka in the final, Kashvee Gautam was among the reserves.

Despite not playing for the national side, Gautam was in the standby list of players, which also included the likes of Harleen Deol, Saika Ishaque, and Sneh Rana.

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#3 She took a hat-trick in an inter-zonal senior Women's T20 game

Kashvee Gautam also has a hat-trick to her name, which she took during the second edition of the Women's Senior Inter-Zonal T20 game.

While playing for the North Zone, she wreaked havoc with the new ball and took a hat-trick against the North-East Zone in Lucknow on November 24. It was the same day when she got selected for the India A Women's team.

Defending 155 in the second innings, Gautam got rid of Sentilemla and Kalpana on the last two deliveries of her first over. She then completed her hat-trick by dismissing L Tamang on the first ball of her second over.

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#2 Won the U-23 Women's Asia Cup earlier this year

Kashvee Gautam is a no stranger to the big stage as she was also part of the triumphant U-23 Indian Women's team at the ACC Emerging U-23 Women's Asia Cup in June 2023.

Due to persistent rains in Hong Kong, the Indian team got to play only two matches and Gautam played both the games. She got to bowl just three overs in the entire tournament and leaked just nine runs, going at an economy rate of 3.00.

The U-23 Women's Indian team beat the U-23 Women's Bangaldesh team by 31 runs in the summit clash of the competition.

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#1 She took a 10-wicket haul in a 50-over game at age 16

Kashvee Gautam shot to fame after her improbable 10-wicket haul in a Women's Under-19 One Day Trophy game for Chandigarh against Arunachal Pradesh in 2020.

Incredibly, she was only 16 years old at that time and became the first-ever Indian bowler to take all 10 wickets in a limited-overs match. The captain of her side, Gautam returned with unbelievable figures of 10/12.

She wrapped up the Arunachal Pradesh side in just 4.5 overs for a mere 25 runs. Gautam began the Arunachal innings with two wickets in the opening over when Chandigarh were defending a score of 186/4.

She then claimed a hat-trick in her subsequent over and two more wickets in the over that followed. Arunachal were all out for 25 when she added three more in the ninth over. Six of her 10 dismissals were LBWs, while the remaining four came via clean bowled.

Gautam also top-scored for her side with a score of 49 off 68 balls.