MUMBAI, Feb 13: Smriti Mandhana stole the thunder 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) here today.
On a day when 10 Indian players got crore-plus deals, skipper Harmanpreet Kaur came much cheaper for Mumbai Indians at nearly half the price of Mandhana at Rs 1.80 crore. Harmanpreet is also not the highest paid in her team where England’s Nat Sciver-Brunt got way more at Rs 3.20 crore.
In fact, Harmanpreet was not even among the top-six Indian buys as the second costliest player from the country is all-rounder Deepti Sharma, who was bought by UP Warriorz for Rs 2.6 crore.
The hard-hitting Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues, the star of the T20 World Cup win against Pakistan on Sunday, were picked by Delhi Capitals for Rs 2 crore and Rs 2.20 crore respectively. All-rounders Pooja Vastrakar and Richa Ghosh laughed their way to the bank with Rs 1.90 crore deals each offered by MI and RCB respectively.
Jemimah and Richa’s deals were also a case of recency bias as the Pakistan match on Sunday did play a big role.
Yastika Bhatia, who opened the batting with Shafali Verma against Pakistan, went to Mumbai Indians for Rs 1.5 crore.
The two other Indians who got crore-plus deals were Renuka Thakur (bought by RCB at Rs 1.5 crore) and Devika Vaidya (bought by UP Warriorz at Rs 1.4 crore).
However, Delhi Capitals pulled off a coup by roping in one of contemporary women’s cricket’s best leaders Meg Lanning of Australia for Rs 1.10 crore.
The RCB, which teed off the buying spree, also explained their choices and the price attached to it. (PTI)
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