Extremely unfortunate to see Pakistan players missing out on WPL, says ex-Pakistan captain Urooj Mumtaz

Former Pakistan captain turned commentator Urooj Mumtaz said that it is unfortunate that Pakistan players missed out on the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL).

The inaugural Women’s Premier League (WPL) player auction in Mumbai on Monday saw 87 players picked up by five teams, out of which 30 were overseas cricketers, with INR 59.5 crore overall money spent in the auction.

“It is extremely unfortunate to see Pakistan players missing out. Every opportunity must be fair and inclusive, and all opportunities are steps towards collectively raising the standard of the women’s game and globally growing the sport. Most importantly, they bridge the gap in quality between cricketing nations,” Mumtaz told ESPNCricinfo.

Pakistan’s women cricketers were due to be playing in their own version of the Pakistan Super League (PSL). But that plan was shelved after a change in administration in December when Najam Sethi took over from Ramiz Raja as the board’s chairman.

Pakistan skipper Bismah Maroof was also asked about the WPL auction, after an opening-game loss to India in the ongoing Women’s T20 World Cup, she said: “We, as Pakistan, don’t get many opportunities to play in the leagues and that’s very unfortunate,” she said. “Definitely, we would love to play and we want every opportunity we can get in the leagues. But yeah, it is what it is and we can’t control that,” she said.