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Gujarat Giants’s newest purchase in the Women’s Premier League 2025 auction Simran Shaikh revealed her two biggest dreams. Notably, the Gujarat-based franchise roped in Shaikh for a whopping INR 1.9 Crore. With this, she became the most expensive player at the recently-concluded auction. Shaikh is a hard-hitting batter who hails from the largest slum of Asia, Dharavi in Mumbai. While Shaikh was a part of the Gujarat Giants in the 2023 WPL, she couldn’t perform much with the bat.
However, she garnered attention during the T20 Challenger Trophy, where she hit seven sixes and six boundaries and had a stunning batting strike rate of 202.50. The 22-year-old recently revealed her two big dreams, one of which is to meet former India captain and batting icon Virat Kohli. She told ANI, “I like Virat Kohli sir a lot. It’s a big dream to meet him.” She added, “My journey has started now. I want to give my best, work hard. I want one more jersey, which is the India jersey. I will work hard to achieve that dream.”
Teach her how to wash utensils: Simran Shaikh reveals fighting stereotypes
The young cricketer opened up on how she fought stereotypes to reach at this stage of her career. News18 quoted Shaikh telling ANI, “When I used to play gully cricket as a kid, the neighbors used to say, ‘Why is this girl playing with boys? Go home and do some chores, why are you doing this?’” She added, “They used to taunt my parents. I also used to feel this — Muslim girls weren’t allowed to play and I was playing among the boys. But I had it in my mind that I had to do something.”
She added, “Everyone used to say, ‘Teach her house chores, teach her how to wash utensils’. I just kept on thinking that I had to do something and play more and it felt nice that my family supported me." Shaikh is now the second most expensive uncapped player in the WPL after Kashvee Gautam who was signed by the Gujarat-based franchise for a whopping INR 2 Crore.
