‘She paid no heed to naysayers’, says Dharavi girl’s mother after Simran Shaikh bags WPL mega-deal

Mumbai, Dec 17 (SocialNews.XYZ): Mumbai batter Simran Shaikh, daughter of an electrician from Asia's biggest slum, Dharavi, made a mark for herself when she bagged a whopping Rs 1.9 crore deal from the Gujarat Giants in the mini-auction ahead of the Women's Premier League (WPL) 2025.

Simran, who was with UP Warriorz in WPL 2023, emerged as the costliest uncapped Indian player in the WPL auction, is a member of Mumbai and India E teams that clinched the titles in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy and Challenger Trophy, respectively.

Speaking to IANS, Simran's mother revealed that her family members had "jumped with excitement" as soon as Simran's name came up for auction. She further said Simran paid no heed to the naysayers who had commented on her taking up cricket and was fully dedicated to her game.

"Everyone used to say, 'You should tell her to stop'. I would try to make her understand, saying, 'Don’t do this, people talk badly about us, and it doesn’t feel good. If not for yourself, at least think about your mother'. But she would ignore everyone and stay lost in her cricket world."

"Now that she has reached this position, everyone speaks highly of her, which makes us feel proud too," she added.

Simran is the third of seven children, four sisters and three brothers, and lives with her family of eleven people in a 10x16 room in Asia's biggest slum in Mumbai.

Simran's father, Zahid Ali said, "he is thinking of getting a flat to improve their lifestyle and provide a good setup for his children."

Speaking about Simran's huge deal, Zahid said, "The entire family was very happy; there were tears of joy in everyone's eyes. It is such a wonderful thing when the daughter of the house achieves great heights, it becomes a joyous occasion to celebrate for the whole family."

Simran, the 22-year-old middle-order batter, was acquired at her base prize of Rs 10 lakh by UP Warriorz ahead of the inaugural WPL auction last year. In nine matches of WPL 2023, she scored 29 runs at a strike rate of 60.41 and an average of 5.80.

She has improved a lot since then.

In the Senior Women's T20 Trophy in October and November this year, Simran scored 176 runs at a strike rate of 100.57 at an average of 22 in 11 games for Mumbai. She hammered seven sixes and six fours in just 40 balls she faced over five innings while representing Team E in the recent T20 Challenger Trophy, making it an incredible strike rate of 202.50.

Source: IANS