Orla Prendergast has become the first Ireland women’s international to secure a contract in India’s Women’s Premier League (WPL), signing for Gujarat Giants ahead of the 2027 season.
The 24-year-old all-rounder was bought for 30 lakh Indian rupees, approximately €28,000, at the WPL auction in Kochi on 28 October. She joins one of the best-paid competitions in women’s cricket, where the top contracts are worth more than €300,000 for a tournament that lasts less than a month.
Prendergast has already played international cricket for Ireland, English domestic cricket, The Hundred and Australia’s Women’s Big Bash League, and she has signed with Brisbane Heat for this season’s WBBL. Her WPL contract is a first for Irish cricket.
The WPL is India’s leading women’s franchise competition, a five-team T20 tournament that brings international stars together with the country’s best players. It began in 2023. Prendergast will join Gujarat Giants for the fifth edition, which runs from 14 January to 7 February 2027.
Football first, then cricket
Prendergast’s career could have gone another way. A product of Pembroke Cricket Club in Dublin, she also played football for the Republic of Ireland at under-17 level. Like her role model Ellyse Perry, she played both sports before choosing cricket.
She made her senior Ireland debut against the Netherlands in August 2019, two months after turning 17. In August 2020 she was one of seven players given a part-time playing contract by Cricket Ireland.
A right-handed batter and right-arm medium-fast bowler, she has become one of Ireland’s most dependable all-rounders. In August 2024 she took 3 for 25 and then made an unbeaten 122 from 107 balls against Sri Lanka in Belfast, her first one-day international century, as Ireland chased down 261 for their highest successful ODI run chase. That year she was one of four players shortlisted for the ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year award.
A World Cup that put her in the Team of the Tournament
At the 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup in England, Prendergast scored 181 runs and took six wickets in five matches. The ICC named her in its Team of the Tournament.
Her 63 off 44 balls, plus a wicket, against West Indies in Bristol on 27 June earned her Player of the Match and gave Ireland their first victory at a Women’s T20 World Cup. Against New Zealand in Southampton on 19 June she made 59 and took 2 for 26, though Ireland lost by four runs. Ireland finished bottom of their group.
What the Women’s Premier League is worth
The top contracts for the 2027 season are worth about 3.5 crore Indian rupees, roughly €330,000. Ashleigh Gardner at Gujarat Giants, Nat Sciver-Brunt at Mumbai Indians and Smriti Mandhana at Royal Challengers Bengaluru are on that figure. Deepti Sharma of UP Warriorz is on about €302,000 and Amelia Kerr of Mumbai Indians about €283,000.
Those are contract values for a season of about three and a half weeks, not annual salaries. Prendergast’s €28,000 is a fraction of them, but it is a first for an Irish international.
At Gujarat, she joins a squad captained by Gardner that includes Beth Mooney, Sophie Devine and Ireland-born Australia international Kim Garth.
An audience of hundreds of millions
India’s victory over South Africa in the Women’s World Cup final on 2 November 2025 drew 185 million viewers on JioHotstar, according to the broadcaster. That equalled the platform’s figure for the 2024 men’s T20 World Cup final. The tournament reached 446 million viewers on digital platforms in India.
Those figures relate to international cricket, not the WPL. The league has its own numbers. JioStar reported that digital reach for the 2026 WPL was up 17 per cent on 2025, with 34.5 billion minutes watched across platforms, an increase of 11 per cent.
For an Irish player, that is a far bigger audience than any fixture at home can offer.
What it means for Irish cricket
Women’s cricket in Ireland operates on a much smaller scale than in India, Australia or England. Franchise tournaments are one of the ways players from smaller cricketing countries can test themselves regularly against the best.
Speaking to Cricket Ireland after the announcement, Prendergast said: “Playing in franchise tournaments has done a lot for my game.” She said it was useful to hear different opinions and perspectives on her game, and that working under world-class coaches was another positive.
One signing does not settle how a professional women’s game is built in Ireland, and it does not mean other Irish players will follow. It does give younger players a recent example of where strong performances at international level can lead.
First, though, she has to get into the team. Gujarat’s squad has several established overseas players, and a WPL contract does not guarantee Prendergast a place in the XI.
For now, her name is on a WPL contract. No Ireland women’s international had managed that before.
