The Women's Premier League's (WPL) auction unfurled with a lot of drama which saw many cricketers — both Indian and international — bagging big-money deals. Five franchises broke their banks to bring in some of their favourite players for the cash-rich tournament which is set to kick off on March 4.
During the glitzy auction, Smriti Mandhana hogged most of the limelight when the southpaw was acquired by bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for a whopping Rs 3.40 Crore after a tug of war with Mumbai Indian (MI). The star India opener was the first player to go under the hammer and ended the day as the most expensive buy.
In addition to Mandhana, a number of other players also garnered a lot of money.
Here, we look at the most expensive players from the recently concluded auction:
1. Smriti Mandhana (India): Rs 3.4 Crores (Royal Challengers Bangalore)
2. Ashleigh Gardner (Australia): Rs 3.2 Crores (Gujarat Giants)
3. Natalie Sciver Brunt (England): Rs 3.2 Crores (Mumbai Indians)
4. Deepti Sharma (India): Rs 2.6 Crores (UP Warriorz)
5. Jemimah Rodrigues (India): Rs 2.2 Crores (Delhi Capitals)
6. Shafali Verma (India): Rs 2 Crores (Delhi Capitals)
7. Beth Mooney (Australia): Rs 2 Crores (Gujarat Giants)
8. Pooja Vastrakar (India): Rs 1.9 Crores (Mumbai Indians)
9. Richa Ghosh (India): Rs 1.9 Crores (Royal Challengers Bangalore)
10. Sophie Ecclestone (England): Rs 1.8 Crores (UP Warriorz)
11. Harmanpreet Kaur (India): Rs 1.8 crore
Meanwhile, the second costliest Indian player was all-rounder Deepti, bought by UP Warriorz for Rs 2.6 crore. Delhi Capitals got their first player of the auction when they successfully won the bid for Jemimah Rodrigues at Rs 2.2 crore. Indian opener and U-19 T20 World Cup-winning captain Shafali Verma also received Rs 2 crore and will join Jemimah at the Delhi Capitals.
As far as overseas players are concerned, one of the prominent picks during the first round was Australia’s off-spin all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner, who was bought by Gautam Adani-owned Gujarat Giants for Rs 3.20 crore. But the most money on foreign stars was spent by the Bangalore-based franchise,
They shelled out Rs 5.60 crore of their 12 crore purse and got their remaining 12 players with the rest of the Rs 6.40 crore to reach the mandatory quota of 15 players.
UP Warriorz brought England left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone on board for Rs 1.80 crore to join Deepti. Their most reasonable signing might prove to be that of Alyssa Healy actually, who was brought in for Rs 70 Lakh.
. Star Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry received a cool Rs 1.70 crore winning bid from RCB who also got New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine dirt cheap at a base price of Rs 50 lakh.
