• By JE Sports Desk
  • Mon, 13 Feb 2023 05:54 PM (IST)
  • Source:JND

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) bought India star batter Smrithi Mandhana for a whopping price of Rs 3.40 Cr in the Women's Premier League Auction in Mumbai on Monday.

Mandhana was the first buy of the WPL. She had the base price of Rs 50 lakh and also attracted bids from Mumbai Indians. Both RCB and Mumbai had a fierce bidding war for the purchase of Mandhana.  

RCB also bought Australia swashbuckling all-rounder Ellyse Perry for Rs 1.70 Cr and India pacer Renuka Singh for Rs 1.50 Cr. New Zealand all-rounder Sophie Devine was also bagged by RCB for Rs 50 lakh.

"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," RCB Director of Cricket Mike Hesson said during a media interaction.

"Smriti has got plenty of captaincy experience and is familiar with the Indian conditions, so highly likely (she'll be the captain)."

A maximum of 90 slots are available for the five teams, with 30 being slotted for overseas players.

Rs 50 lakh is the highest reserve price with 24 players choosing to be slotted in the highest bracket. Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma and India’s Under-19 T20 World Cup-winning captain Shafali Verma are amongst the few Indians who have slotted themselves in the highest bracket.

Thirteen overseas players have also slotted themselves under the Rs 50 lakh reserve price with the likes of Ellyse Perry, Sophie Ecclestone, Sophie Devine and Deandra Dottin to name a few.


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