A massive Rs 59.5 crore was spent by the five Women's Premier League (WPL) franchises in Mondays' auction in Mumbai where a total of 87 players were sold, of which 30 were overseas cricketers.
Royal Challengers Bangalore made the biggest buy of the day, picking up Indian vice-captain Smriti Mandhana for Rs 3.4 crore. Australia's off-spin all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner and England vice-captain Nat Sciver-Brunt were joint highest overseas buys with at Rs 3.2 crore each. Ashleigh was bought by the Adani-owned Gujarat Giants while Sciver was roped in by Mumbai Indians.
Bangalore also bought New Zealand captain Sophie Devine at her base price of Rs 50 lakh, Australia's premier all-rounder Ellyse Perry for Rs 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 Rs 1.9 crore, apart from getting pacer Renuka Thakur for Rs 1.5 crore.
In the end stages of the auction, Bangalore bagged England captain Heather Knight for Rs 40 lakh, while also bringing in Australia pacer Megan Schutt for the same amount. They also got South Africa's regular captain and all-rounder Dane van Niekerk for Rs 30 lakh.
Mumbai Indians, who failed to acquire Smriti's services, beat the challenge from Bangalore and Delhi Capitals to buy Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur for Rs 1.8 crore. Soon after the buy, the franchise announced Kaur as their skipper.
Apart from Kaur, Mumbai got more Indian regulars in all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar for Rs 1.9 crore and wicketkeeper-batter Yastika Bhatia for Rs 1.5 crore.
They also got in New Zealand's leg-spin all-rounder Amelia Kerr for Rs 1 crore, and acquired West Indies captain Hayley Matthews for her base price of Rs 40 lakh after she went unsold in the first round. Mumbai also got Australia's pace all-rounder Heather Graham for Rs 30 lakh and South Africa all-rounder Chloe Tryon for Rs 30 lakh, apart from bringing in England pacer Issy Wong for Rs 30 lakh and Indian all-rounder Amanjot Kaur for Rs 50 lakh.
Off-spin all-rounder Deepti Sharma also became the second most-expensive Indian player in the auction with a Rs 2.6 crore paycheck from UP Warriorz.
“This is a great opportunity and since I belong to UP so I am feeling quite good about this. This is a new beginning for us too and we had been waiting for such an opportunity for a while, and my role will be simply to put on the best possible showing for my side, so that I can contribute to the team,” Deepti said after the auction.
The side also spent big money on getting Australia's fast-bowling all-rounder Tahlia McGrath and India all-rounder Devika Vaidya for Rs 1.4 crore each, while brining in South African pacer Shabnim Ismail at Rs 1 crore.
Gujarat and Delhi both wanted England's left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone, but Warriorz managed to make the winning bid of Rs 1.8 crore, and also got Australia wicketkeeper-batter Alyssa Healy for Rs 70 lakh, followed by her countrymate Grace Harris.
Lower-order power-hitter Kiran Navgire was also bought by Warriorz for Rs 30 lakh and also England pacer Lauren Bell in the same amount. Warriorz also signed a bevy of prominent Indian players in Anjali Sarvani (Rs 55 lakh), Rajeshwari Gayakwad (Rs 40 lakh), U-19 World Cup winners Parshavi Chopra (Rs 10 lakh), Shweta Sehrawat (Rs 40 lakh) and S Yashasri (Rs 10 lakh).
Delhi Capitals were late to get off the blocks in the WPL auction, not making any buys in the first two rounds of players going under the hammer. They finally opened their account in set three, signing in top-order batter Jemimah Rodrigues (Rs 2.2 crore), who led India's chase of 150 against Pakistan in Sunday's Women's T20 World Cup tie, followed by India's U19 Women's T20 World Cup-winning captain Shafali Verma (Rs 2 crore) and Australia's multiple World Cup-winning skipper Meg Lanning (Rs 1.1 crore).
"At the Delhi Capitals, we always believe in backing youngsters, and having a good combination of experienced players with the young players. I think we've been able to do that in the auction today. Overall, I am very happy and excited about the squad. It's only about two and half weeks so I can't wait for the WPL to get going" said the franchise's Chairman & Co-owner Parth Jindal.
England all-rounder Alice Capsey was bought by Delhi for Rs 75 lakh while South Africa all-rounder Marizanne Kapp was bought by the franchise for Rs 1.5 crore, and Australia left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen was acquired for Rs 45 lakh.
Delhi then got USA bowler and lone associate pick in the auction Tara Norris for Rs 10 lakh and then got the better of Bangalore to rope in Australia all-rounder Laura Harris for Rs 45 lakh, and also got India leg-spinner Poonam Yadav for Rs 30 lakh.
They also got Indian players like Shikha Pandey (Rs 60 lakh), Radha Yadav (Rs 40 lakh), Taniyaa Bhatia (Rs 30 lakh), Sneha Deepthi (Rs 30 lakh), Arundhati Reddy (Rs 30 lakh), and U19 Women's T20 World Cup Player of the final Titas Sadhu (Rs 25 lakh).
Gujarat Giants bought the most expensive overseas player in the 2023 Women's Premier League auction when they bought Aussie Ashleigh Gardner for Rs 3.2 crore. Their second big pick was another Aussie Beth Mooney who they roped in for Rs 2 crore. England opener Sophia Dunkley was acquired for Rs 60 lakh. They also made solid overseas buys in Annabel Sutherland (Rs 70 lakh), Deandra Dottin (Rs 60 lakh), and Georgia Wareham (Rs 75 lakh).
In terms of Indian players, they got performers like Harleen Deol (Rs 40 lakh), Sneh Rana (Rs 75 lakh), Sabbhineni Meghana (Rs 30 lakh), Mansi Joshi (Rs 30 lakh), Dayalan Hemalatha (Rs 30 lakh), Monica Patel (Rs 30 lakh), Sushma Verma (Rs 60 lakh), Hurley Gala (Rs 10 lakh) and Shabnam Shakil (Rs 10 lakh).
Some of the biggest names which went unsold at the auction were Laura Wolvaardt, Danni Wyatt, Alana King, Sune Luus, Lizelle Lee, Chamari Athapaththu, Suzie Bates, Darcie Brown, Lea Tahuhu, Katherine Sciver-Brunt, Tammy Beaumont and Stafanie Taylor. In terms of Indian players, Simran Dil Bahadur, Priya Punia, Soumya Tiwari, Archana Devi, Meghna Singh and Ekta Bisht were missing.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)