Indian opener Smriti Mandhana entered her name into history books on Monday as the superstar batter became the first player sold at the inaugural auction of the Women's Premier League (WPL) in Mumbai. Roped in by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) during the marquee set of the WPL 2023 auction, Mandhana hogged the limelight by joining the Bangalore-based franchise for a whopping sum of ₹3.40 crore on Monday.
While Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur was signed by Mumbai Indians (MI) for ₹1.80 crore, RCB opted to break the bank by signing Australia's Ellyse Perry after acquiring the services of India vice-captain Mandhana at the auction. Taking cognisance of Bangalore's insane spending at the Women's Premier League auction, fans and followers of the game sparked an epic meme fest on social media.
"HUGE! Smriti Mandhana's WPL salary is now more than Babar Azam's PSL salary," a fan said in his tweet. "Babar Azam Price in PSL - 2.30 CR. SMRITI MANDHANA - 3.4 Cr. And they Compare PSL with IPL #WPLAuction #WomensIPL," another Twitter user added. Royal Challengers Bangalore almost spent 50% of their allotted purse money (INR 12 crore) on three marquee players.
Youngster Richa Ghosh, who was a part of India's Under-19 World Cup-winning squad, joined RCB for INR 1.9 crore at the auction. Mike Hesson, who is the director of cricket at RCB, has hinted that opener Mandhana will likely lead Bangalore in the forthcoming edition of the WPL.
{{/usCountry}}Youngster Richa Ghosh, who was a part of India's Under-19 World Cup-winning squad, joined RCB for INR 1.9 crore at the auction. Mike Hesson, who is the director of cricket at RCB, has hinted that opener Mandhana will likely lead Bangalore in the forthcoming edition of the WPL.
{{/usCountry}}"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 (she'll be captain)," Hesson said.
RCB also signed Sophie Devine ( ₹50 lakh), Renuka Singh ( ₹1.5 crore), Erin Burns ( ₹30 lakh), Disha Kasat ( ₹10 lakh), Indrani Roy ( ₹10 lakh), Shreyanka Patil ( ₹10 lakh), Kanika Ahuja ( ₹35 lakh) and Asha Shobana ( ₹10 lakh) at the WPL 2023 auction. The Bangalore-based franchise then acquired the services of England's Heather Knight in the accelerated auction.