History was made when India batting stalwart Smriti Mandhana was sold to the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for a whopping Rs 3.4 crore in the inaugural auction of the Women’s Premier League (WPL).
Australia’s Ashleigh Gardner (Gujarat Giants) and England’s Natalie Sciver (Mumbai Indians) were the second most expensive players sold at Rs 3.2 crore.
India captain Harmanpreet Kaur was picked by Mumbai Indians for Rs 1.8 crore, while UP Warriorz snapped ace all-rounder Deepti Sharma for Rs 2.60 crore. The charismatic Jemimah Rodrigues, who starred in India’s victory over Pakistan in their opening match of the Women’s T20 World Cup on Sunday, received a winning bid by Delhi Capitals for Rs 2.2 crore. India U-19 World Cup-winning captain Shafali Verma too joined Jemimah in Delhi for Rs 2 crore.
“It was definitely expected that Smriti would go in this price range in the first set of players. But, I was thinking Smriti will go to Mumbai and Harman to RCB. There were some changes there, but since her name was announced first, teams had the option of going all out for her and that’s what RCB did,” said Veda Krishnamurthy, part of Viacom18’s WPL expert panel alongside Lydia Greenway, Aakash Chopra and Abhinav Mukund.
“If you are looking at Smriti Mandhana as a potential captain and you look at the other names in the mix as well like Ellyse Perry and Sophie Devine. They have got the leadership experience, they’ve captained their sides in the WBBL,” said Abhinav Mukund on JioCinema and Sports18. (ANI)
