Extremely happy to be picked by Mumbai Indians, says  Kamalini

Tamil Nadu all-rounder G. Kamalini, who was signed by Mumbai Indians Women for a whopping Rs 1.60 crore in the Women’s Premier League 2025 mini-auction held at Bengaluru on Sunday, said she was extremely happy to be picked by the franchise and didn’t expect to go for such a hefty amount.

Speaking to The Hindu from Kuala Lumpur, an excited Kamalini said, “firstly, I am extremely happy to be picked by the Mumbai Indians. I had gone for trials thrice. I didn’t expect to be picked for such a huge amount.”

“When I went to the Mumbai Indians trials, I found the ambience and the atmosphere to be very positive and encouraging and made me want to be a part of the team,” she added.

The 16-year-old sparked a fierce bidding battle between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals Women, with the former outbidding the latter, starting at a base price of Rs 10 lakh.

After her recent performances in the domestic tournaments, Kamalini emerged as one of the most in-demand players in the auction pool.

The southpaw, who has an incredible ability to hit huge maximums, was the second-highest run-getter (311 runs in eight matches) in the recently concluded Women’s under-19 T20 tournament, which helped Tamil Nadu win the championship.

Kamlini, a wicketkeeper batter who can also bowl leg-spin has had rigorous training at the Super Kings Academy in Chennai.

Kamalini expressed her gratitude to legendary India cricketer Jhulan Goswami, mentor of the Mumbai Indians Women and former India wicketkeeper Kiran More, the team’s manager. “I am really thankful to my parents and my elder brother for their tremendous support in my cricketing journey.”

Earlier today, Kamalini’s explosive unbeaten 29-ball 44, which included four fours and three sixes against Pakistan, helped India win its match in the ongoing U-19 T20 Asia Cup in Kuala Lumpur.

MI Head Coach Charlotte Edwards highlighted her belief in the youngster’s talent for the forthcoming WPL: “It was one name that kept coming up in all of the meetings in the last two or three months. We needed a backup for Yastika (Bhatia) and a left-handed option in the middle order. She is young, so we anticipated interest. So we needed to have that purse handy. We hope she will be with us for a long time, and we can’t wait to have her in our set-up.”