Smriti Mandhana snatched the show in the inaugural Women's Premier League (WPL) auctions as Royal Challengers Bangalore pipped Mumbai Indians in a bidding war to buy the India vice-captain for Rs 3.40 crore (USD 410,000) on Monday.
Several of the world's top women cricketers earned hundreds of thousands of dollars for their services in the inaugural Women's Premier League auction, with India's attacking batter Smriti Mandhana leading the way on Rs 3.40 crore (USD 410,000).
The left-handed 26-year-old was the first lot on the block at the sale in Mumbai and was the object of a bidding war. Nita Ambani, who is the wife of Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani and owns the Mumbai Indians franchise, placed several bids for her services before the Royal Challengers Bangalore prevailed.
On the other hand, Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur came much cheaper for Mumbai Indians at nearly half the price of Mandhana at Rs 1.80 crore. Moreover, Harman is not the highest paid in her team where England's Nat Sciver-Brunt got way more at Rs 3.20 crore.
Delhi Capitals picked Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues for Rs 2 crore and Rs 2.20 crore respectively. Jemimah and Richa's deals were also a case of recency bias as the Pakistan match on Sunday did play a big role.
All-rounders Pooja Vastrakar and Richa Ghosh made their way to the bank with Rs 1.90 crore deals offered by MI and RCB respectively.
However, Delhi Capitals persuaded one of contemporary women's cricket's best leaders Meg Lanning of Australia 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).”
