Former India captain Mithali Raj believes the Women's Premier League (WPL) will make players "stick to the game for a long time". In the past, he believes, players left the game because they felt they had no chance to play for India. "And now they can continue playing the franchise," Mithali told The Indian Express. He also believes that like the IPL, the WPL can be a recipe for the women's national team.

"Once you think you don't have a chance to play domestic cricket, some players may not be motivated to continue. It will motivate the players in the future, if they feel they don't have a chance to play India. They can continue to play franchise games,” said Mithali, who is part of Gujarat Giants in the WPL.

“Players will certainly choose to stick to cricket for a longer time and for domestic players it’s a good platform. Probably they feel that they have been left out of the domestic set-up but now players have the WPL. The performance in WPL will be looked at, look how players get picked after the performance of the IPL in the Indian team. Similarly you can expect this in two-three years time,” Raj said.

More than 400 cricketers took part in the auction in Mumbai where Indian fly half Smriti Mandana fetched Rs 3.40 crore.

 It's a big day for women's cricket as both players and fans look forward to this season. The Indian board has decided how much the women's players in the Indian national team and the men's team are paid, however, the national cricket team does not pay well.

A woman cricketer playing domestic matches earns Rs 20,000 for a one-day match while women cricketers earn Rs 10,000 per day. The Indian board pays Rs 10,000 per women's T20 match while non-players earn Rs 5,000. There are also four zonal games. On an average, a player plays eight ODIs and eight T20 matches per year, earning around Rs 2.40,000 lakh per year.

In the WPL market, the minimum unearned player is Rs 10 lakh. Of the 16 players from the ICC Under-19 Women's Under-19 squad, nine were selected by the franchise.

Franchises have to write their plans within a short period of time and Delhi Capital owner Parth Jindal said he felt like a tenth grader who had to learn the program in the last nine days.

"Since the level of WPL, media power has increased, there is noise. Today some players went for three crores, two crores, it's a terrible day; it will change cricket forever," Jinjindal said.

With little data available on women's cricket, the franchise will rely on word of mouth from state teams and former players.