India opener Smriti Mandhana became the most expensive player at the inaugural Women’s Premier League (WPL) auction after the Royal Challengers Bangalore snapped her for a Whopping INR 3.4 crore.
Smriti Mandhana was the first-ever player to be auctioned in the WPL auction. Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore got into a bidding war for Mandhana, whose base price was INR 50 lakhs. RCB eventually got her from the marquee set.
Mandhana is the vice-captain of Team India and was the frontrunner to lead the side. Given Perry’s experience, at the international level, she too could have been a strong contender to lead the side. Speaking to the press after buying both Perry and Mandhana, RCB director Mike Hesson revealed the team’s captaincy pick
“Everyone knows Mandhana and Perry, 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 Devine. Smriti has got plenty of captaincy experience and is familiar with the Indian conditions so highly likely,” RCB’s director of cricket said.
RCB had a stellar outing in the auction they picked up a well-rounded team, after picking Mandhana and Perry. RCB signed Sophie Devine at her base price of Rs 50 lakh. They shelled out a huge sum of money for Renuka Singh and Richa Ghosh to form a core group.
It’s Such A Big Movement For Women’s Cricket – Smriti Mandhana Elated To Be Part Of RCB
Smriti Mandhana expressed her excitement about joining RCB, She said that it is dream come true moment, over the years she used to watch IPL auctions and now she was happy to be part of historic WPL.
“I think it’s been over last ten years we’ve been watching auctions for men and it was just amazing because I’m always glued to auctions of men whenever they used to happen. It’s such a big movement for women’s cricket too for us to have an auction of this sort. I think this is history, firstly the announcement of WPL and then this auction,” she said.