Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya gained immense admiration through his sentimental act by giving Gujarat Giants' promising cricketer Kashvee Gautam a customized 1100-gram bat during their match at Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium on April 12, 2025. Pandya fulfilled his Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2025 promise by giving a personalized bat of 1100 grams to Kashvee Gautam minutes before the MI vs. Delhi Capitals contest at IPL 2025. The 21-year-old promising cricket all-rounder Kashvee Gautam showed great excitement, which made the bat exchange go viral among the cricket community.

Gujarat Giants played MI in the WPL 2025 Eliminator match at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium on March 13. After the match, Kashvee met Pandya through Harleen Deol, as she showed her bat with the HP33 number, which corresponded to Pandya's jersey number. Pandya continued his conversation by promising to send her a bat, which he would sign after destroying it. He honored his pledge by delivering the bat in Delhi, where he also congratulated Kashvee upon her first Indian appearance during the Sri Lankan tri-nation series.

Hardik Pandya gifted a bat to the rising Superstar of Indian Women's cricket, Kashvee Gautam 🌟

- Hardik met Kashvee during WPL & promised her to give a specific 1100 gram bat, A great gesture by MI Captain. pic.twitter.com/sZWdhXfQLk

— Nishu Gautam (@NishuGautam10) April 13, 2025

Also Read: Top 5 highest run chases in history of IPL

Kashvee’s impressive performance in WPL 2025 has produced 11 wickets through nine matches while maintaining a bowling economy of 6.45 for Gujarat Giants. The combination of her highly effective bowling technique and powerful batting abilities led the selectors to select her for the Indian team, and teammate Phoebe Litchfield described her as someone who is "calm, collected, and destructive." Kashvee welcomes the bat gift from Pandya, which gives her extra support because she aims to participate in the Women’s ODI World Cup.

A Symbol of Inspiration

The public received the bat gift for Kashvee from Pandya positively, which created a buzz on social media platforms. An X user notably hailed the gift as a "great showing of leadership from the MI captain." In a season where MI IPL 2025 has only one win from its five matches, Pandya demonstrates his leadership responsibilities extend far outside the field of play. Kashvee receives the bat as an encouraging symbol that boosts her effort to excel on the international cricket stage while working to combine men’s and women’s cricket in a heartwarming moment.

With only a few days to go for the upcoming edition of the Women’s Premier League, Gujarat Giants uncapped allrounder Kashvee Gautam has been ruled out with injury to injury. On the other hand, Kanika Ahuja, the Royal Challengers Bangalore spin allrounder has been also ruled out of the WPL due to injury.

Kashvee Gautam most expensive buy till date in WPL history

Kashvee Gautam became the most expensive uncapped player in the history of WPL in December 2023. She was bought for a whopping INR 2 crore. While Kashvee Gautam will miss the WPL 2024, another uncapped player Sayali Sathgare has been named as the replacement, the Mumbai-based player has been secured at a reserve price of INR 10 lakhs.

The Giants will also miss Lauren Cheatle, who opted out of the tournament because of a skin cancer procedure. New Zealand veteran Lea Tahuhu was named as Cheatle’s replacement by the franchise. Gujarat Giants will take on the defending champions Mumbai Indians on February 25 in Bangalore.

Kanika Ahuja replaced by Shradda Pokharkar

Royal Challengers Bangalore are also going to miss an important player this year. Their India spin allrounder Kanika Ahuja was one of the best youngsters for the RCB last season. In seven games she scored 98 runs at an average of 16.33 and a strike rate of 132.43. No wonder RCB will miss her services.

Shradda Pokharkar a left-arm seamer who represents Maharashtra, was signed at a reserve price of INR 10 lakh in place of Kanika Ahuja. Pokharkar was also one of the net bowlers for India for the T20Is against Australia in December 2022. Royal Challengers Bangalore will start their campaign in WPL 2024 with a match against UP Warriorz on February 24.

The second edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL 2024) is set to begin on February 23 at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. In the opening encounter the defending champions Mumbai Indians will take on Delhi Capitals.