Royal Challengers Bangalore broke the bank for Indian batting mainstay Smriti Mandhana, who became the most expensive player in the history of Women’s Premier League during the 2023 auction on Monday. The franchise shelled out a mammoth INR 3.4 crore for Mandhana, who had a base reserve price of INR 50 lakh.
Even though one may argue that RCB have the best squad in terms of batting and bowling, a patient Delhi Capitals table were prudent with their picks as the bidding war intensified. Thanks to the officials, the franchise made several extremely tactical acquisitions that make the core appear solid as ever. Snapping up Meg Lanning, a multi-time World Cup winner, was one of the most clever moves. Delhi also have bagged the likes of Shafali Verma, Marizanne Kapp, Poonam Yadav, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shikha Pandey, and hence, there is no dearth of depth in any department of the game.
Mumbai Indians and RCB engaged in a fierce bidding war for Mandhana, but the former dropped out as her price quickly breached the 3-crore mark, with Bangalore eventually sealing the deal. Mumbai later bought 17 players, including six overseas professionals, utilising their entire available purse money of INR 12 crore.
The Ahmedabad-based franchise went all out to make the most of the WPL Auction, months after missing out on buying a team in the men’s Indian Premier League (IPL). Gujarat Titans, who have signed Indian former captain Mithali Raj as their mentor, boast of several marquee additions to their coaching staff. The franchise banked more on all-rounders and shelled out bigger amounts on players who can contribute with both ball and bat. They spent Rs 3.4 crore on Ashleigh Gardner and later bought Beth Mooney for Rs 2.2 crore.
UP Warriorz have used up their entire purse of INR 12 crore to acquire 16 players, which is the lowest among all the teams in the WPL 2023. The franchise spent a hefty amount of INR 2.6 crore to buy talented all-rounder Deepti Sharma, who emerged as the second costliest player from India after Mandhana. Besides Sharma, Warriorz managed to get English all-rounder Sophie Ecclestone in the team for INR 1.80 crore.
ADVERTISEMENT
