WPL 2027 auction: Meet Samaira Raghav – Gujarat’s newest recruit, who switched from athletics to cricket for India dream
Sixteen-year-old Samaira Raghav was one of the teenagers who found a team at the recent Women’s Premier League (WPL) auction held in Kochi on Tuesday. An explosive middle-order batter with a strike rate of 200, Samaira was picked at her base price of ₹10 lakh by Gujarat Giants, who entered the auction with 15 retained players, having spent ₹13.75 crore on retentions.
With three slots to fill, including one for an overseas player, and ₹1.25 crore remaining in their purse, Gujarat Giants focused on addressing specific squad requirements. At the WPL 2027 auction, Gujarat Giants secured G Kamalini, Orla Prendergast and Samaira, taking their squad strength to 18 players.
In fact, Samaira was one of the four late additions to the already announced 146-player list for the WPL 2027, taking the count to 150.
Who is Samaira Raghav? All you need to know
Born in Delhi in 2010, Samaira was not into cricket initially. Instead, she started her journey into sports as a short-distance sprinter in school. However, she stepped into cricket at the age of seven, leaving athletics behind, with a dream to represent India at the international stage.
Her father, who played cricket at the collage level, was Samaira’s primary mentor. In fact, her early conditioning on the running track, helped Samaira into explosive running between the wickets and agile out-fielding.
The teenager is a middle-order batter and bowls sharp right-arm leg-break spin. Gujarat Giants needed a middle-order batter who can do the job of a finisher and Samaira fits in that role perfectly, along with her slow bowling.
When asked about Samaira, Gujarat Giants head coach Michael Klinger said her reputation spoke for herself. “Samaira has a reputation of being a really good middle order batter who finishes innings off really well. She’s done that recently in the under-19 domestic tournament and we had her at our training camp a few weeks ago in Bengaluru, where in some scenarios and practice matches, she did the same thing.
“So to have someone so young who can do that and have a good head on her shoulders is really exciting. Now she might get picked in the (u-19) World Cup squad – if that’s the case then we may not see much of her this year. But if she happens not to, we’d love to have her,” Klinger said.
Samaira Raghav at DPL 2026
Samaira carries a massive reputation of a composed finisher, something that was on display at the Women’s Delhi Premier League (DPL) earlier this year. Representing North Delhi Strikers, the highlight of Samaira’s WDPL 2026 campaign was an important 32 off 26 deliveries, including two fours and a six, that helped her team beat South Delhi Superstarz by two runs..
Another highlight of Samaira was her 21-ball unbeaten 34, that helped North Delhi Strikers beat East Delhi Riders. She smashed a six on the penultimate delivery to win a thriller.
