MUMBAI: The inaugural Womens Premier League (WPL) player auction in Mumbai on Monday saw 87 players picked up by five teams, out of which 30 were overseas cricketers, with INR 59.5 crore the overall money spent in the auction.
India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana was the most expensive pick at INR 3.4 crore when Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) snapped her. Smriti was also the first player to have come up in the auction.
Australia's off-spin all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner and England vice-captain Nat Sciver-Brunt were joint biggest overseas buys with INR 3.2 crore each. While Ashleigh went to Gujarat Giants, Nat was roped in by Mumbai Indians.
Bangalore also bought New Zealand captain Sophie Devine at her base price of INR 50 lakhs, Australia's premier all-rounder Ellyse Perry for INR 1.7 crore. They also added India's big-hitting wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh, a member in the victorious Under-19 Women's T20 World Cup campaign, for INR 1.9 crores, apart from getting pacer Renuka Thakur for INR 1.5 crore.
Mumbai Indians, who failed to acquire Smriti's services, beat challenge from Bangalore and Delhi Capitals to buy India captain Harmanpreet Kaur for INR 1.8 crore. After getting in Nat, Mumbai got more Indian regulars in all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar for INR 1.9 crore and wicketkeeper-batter Yastika Bhatia for INR 1.5 crore.
Off-spin all-rounder Deepti Sharma was the second most-expensive Indian player with INR 2.6 crores paycheck by UP Warriorz. The side spent big money on getting Australia's fast-bowling all-rounder Tahlia McGrath and India all-rounder Devika Vaidya for INR 1.4 crore each, while also getting South Africa pacer Shabnim Ismail at INR 1 crores.
Gujarat and Delhi both wanted England's left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone, but Warriorz got her for INR 1.8 crore.
Delhi Capitals did not make any signings from the first two marquee sets. They finally opened their account in set three, signing in top-order batter Jemimah Rodrigues (INR 2.2 crore), who led India's chase of 150 against Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup, followed by India's U19 Women's T20 World Cup winning captain Shafali Verma (INR 2 crores) and Australia's multiple World Cups winning skipper Meg Lanning (INR 1.1 crore).
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