Guwahati: Smriti Mandhana stole the show at the first Women’s Premier League (WPL) auctions on Monday when Royal Challengers Bangalore outbid Mumbai Indians for the India vice-captain, paying Rs 3.40 crore (USD 410,000).
The first Women’s Premier League auction saw several of the top female cricketers in the world earn hundreds of thousands of dollars for their services, with India’s aggressive batter Smriti Mandhana leading the way with Rs 3.40 crore (USD 410,000).
The left-handed 26-year-old was the first item on the block at the sale in Mumbai and was the object of a bidding war. The Mumbai Indians franchise is owned by Nita Ambani, the wife of Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani. Several teams bid on Nita Ambani’s services before the Royal Challengers Bangalore won the contract.
Contrarily, Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who cost Mumbai Indians almost half as much as Mandhana at Rs. 1.80 crore, was a much better deal. Furthermore, Harman is not her team’s highest paid player; Nat Sciver-Brunt of England earned Rs 3.20 crore, which is significantly more.
Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues were selected by Delhi Capitals for a total of Rs 2 crore and Rs 2.20 crore, respectively. Recency bias was also at play in Jemimah and Richa’s deals, as the Pakistan match on Sunday did have a significant impact.
Pooja Vastrakar and Richa Ghosh, two all-arounders, entered the banking system with transactions worth a combined Rs 1.90 crore from MI and RCB, respectively.
Meg Lanning of Australia, one of the top players in women’s cricket today, was persuaded to play for Delhi Capitals in exchange for Rs 1.10 crore.
While explaining their choices RCB Director of Cricket Mike Hesson said, “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).”