MUMBAI: Indian cricket delivered yet another financial benchmark Monday at the inaugural Women’s Premier League auction, with India’s attacking batter Smriti Mandhana fetching the highest price of Rs 3.4 crore ($410,000) committed by Royal Challengers Bangalore.
In all, 87 cricketers were sold with Smriti Mandhana leading the pack. The left-handed 26-year-old was the first lot on the block at the sale in Mumbai, and was the object of a bidding war Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Deepti Sharma was bought by UP Warriorz for Rs 2.6 crore, making her the second-most expensive India player.
The hard-hitting Shafali Verma and star of the T20 World Cup game against Pakistan on Sunday, Jemimah Rodrigues were picked by Delhi Capitals for Rs 2 crore and Rs 2.20 crore respectively. All-rounders Pooja Vastrakar and Richa Ghosh laughed their way to the bank with Rs 1.90 crore deals offered by MI and RCB respectively.
The two other costliest players at the auction were Ashleigh Gardner and Natalie Sciver, who were both overseas players and were purchased for Rs 3.2 crore each. Gardner was bought by Gujarat Giants while Sciver was sold to Mumbai Indians.
The RCB, which teed off the buying spree, also explained their choices and the price attached to it.
“Everyone knows Mandhana and (Australia’s Elysse) Perry — Rs 1.7 crore); we were pretty committed to the couple of people we wanted to get. We’re very happy to get such quality players. It’s a dream result for us to get Mandhana, Perry and (Sophie) Devine (Rs 50 lakh),” PTI quoted RCB Director of Cricket Mike Hesson as having said during a media interaction.
“Smriti has got plenty of captaincy experience and is familiar with the Indian conditions, so highly likely (she’ll be the captain).” Mandhana, who watched the auction with her team cheering each bid, was ecstatic.
“We have been watching auction of men’s (players). It is such a big moment for women to have an auction of this sort. The whole thing is exciting. RCB’s legacy is big, they have built a big fan-base. Hope we both can together build a big team,” Mandhana said.
Deepti on her part said, “We waited for this opportunity and since I am from UP, it is a great feeling. I want to contribute as much as possible for UP Warriorz.” One of the prominent picks during the first round of auction was Australia’s off-spin all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner, who was bought by Gautam Adani-owned Gujarat Giants for Rs 3.20 crore (USD 386,000). Gardner and Nat Sciver are the two highest-paid overseas players.
Gujarat primarily bought foreign players and are yet to buy prominent India players save Harleen Deol for Rs 40 lakh.
Star Australian all-rounder Perry received a cool Rs 1.70 crore ($205,000) winning bid from RCB, who also got New Zealand skipper Devine dirt cheap at a base price of Rs 50 lakh.
RCB has already exhausted Rs 7.10 crore out of Rs 12-crore purse on four players and they need to get another 11 players with the rest of the Rs 4.90 crore to have a mandatory squad size of 15 players. The maximum squad strength will be 18 players.
UP Warriorz also got England left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone on board for Rs 1.80 crore.
The five potential captains are Mandhana (RCB), Harmanpreet (MI), Lanning (DC), Beth Mooney (Gujarat Giants) and Deepti Sharma (UP Warriorz).
Each team had Rs 12 crore to spend on the player auction of which a minimum of Rs 9 crore has to be invested to build their squads. All five franchises have a maximum of 90 slots available, with 30 slots for overseas players. This means that each team can have up to six overseas players. So, the opening season of WPL will have a maximum of 30 foreigners and 60 Indian players.
The franchise rights for the five women’s teams were auctioned off in January for $572.5 million, while media rights for the first five seasons of the new league were sold to Viacom18 for $116.7 million.
The two deals made the WPL the second most valuable women’s league after the WNBA women’s basketball league, according to local media reports.
The WNBA, which held its inaugural session in 1997, is reportedly valued at $1 billion.
The WPL league will be held in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai from March 4 to 26.
Women’s Premier League 2023 Auction Highlights
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Smriti Mandhana – Rs. 3.4cr
Richa Ghosh – Rs. 1.9cr
Ellyse Perry (AUS) – Rs. 1.7cr
Renuka Singh – Rs. 1.5cr
Sophie Devine (NZ) – Rs. 50L
Erin Burns (AUS) – Rs. 30L
Mumbai Indians
Nat Sciver-Brunt (ENG) – Rs. 3.2cr
Pooja Vastrakar – Rs. 1.9cr
Harmanpreet Kaur – Rs. 1.8cr
Amelia Kerr (NZ) – Rs. 1cr
Heather Graham (AUS) – Rs. 30L
Issy Wong Rs. 30L
Gujarat Giants
Ashleigh Gardner (AUS) – Rs. 3.2cr
Beth Mooney (AUS) – Rs. 2cr
Sneh Rana – Rs. 75L
Georgia Wareham (AUS) – Rs. 75L
Annabel Sutherland (AUS) – Rs. 70L
Sophia Dunkley (ENG) – Rs. 60L
Deandra Dottin (WI) – Rs. 60L
Sabbineni Meghana Rs. 40L
Mansi Joshi – Rs. 30L
UP Warriorz
Deepti Sharma – Rs. 2.6cr
Sophie Ecclestone (ENG)- Rs. 1.8cr
Tahlia McGrath (AUS) – Rs. 1.4cr
Shabnim Ismail (SA) – Rs. 1cr
Grace Harris (AUS) – Rs. 75L
Alyssa Healy (AUS) – Rs. 70L
Anjali Sarvani – Rs. 55L
Rajeshwari Gayakwad – Rs. 40L
Parshavi Chopra – Rs. 10L
Shweta Sehrawat – Rs. 40L
Kiran Navgire – Rs. 30L
S. Yashasvi – Rs. 10L
Delhi Capitals
Jemimah Rodrigues – Rs. 2.2cr
Shafali Verma – Rs. 2cr
Marizanne Kapp (SA) – Rs. 1.5cr
Meg Lanning (AUS) – Rs. 1.1cr
Shikha Pandey – Rs. 60L
Radha Yadav – Rs. 40L
Titas Sadhu – Rs. 25L
