Spirited Bidding In WPL Auctions
Holding an extreme view and carting the ball out of the park is what interests him most. He is a hard hitter at all times. Fasten your seatbelts and read.
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By Slogger
First publised on 2023-02-13 11:09:11
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Holding an extreme view and carting the ball out of the park is what interests him most. He is a hard hitter at all times. Fasten your seatbelts and read.
View all posts by this Author
The WPL player auctions got off to a rousing start and the first player under the hammer, India's outstanding batter Smriti Mandhana, was sold to RCB for a whopping Rs. 3.4cr after an intense bidding war with Mumbai Indians. With 40% of the auction done, Mandhana is likely to remain the highest paid player in the tournament. Many of the older players (those above 28 years), including the England captain Heather Knight and some other quality overseas players, remained unsold. Indian allrounder Pooja Vastrakar was sold to MI for Rs 1.9cr after a bidding war with UP while Richa Ghosh, the Indian wicketkeeper and the best finisher in the format went to RCB for Rs. 1.9cr.
The teams have a small purse of Rs. 12cr each and the trend till now shows that they are hoping to get some big names up front as batters, then go for the allrounders and bowlers and keep a small purse of about Rs. 2-3cr to take younger, uncapped players to complete the team. For instance, RCB has already spent Rs. 9cr in buying just 5 players and are left with just Rs. 3 cr to buy another 10-13 players, including 4 overseas players till the time of writing this article. The position of MI is also the same. They have 5 players at Rs. 9.6cr and have only Rs. 2.6 remaining. It is going to be really tough for both of them.
The auctions will go a long way in raising the interest in the women's game and more and more girls will now take up cricket as a career. There is no denying that if there is no money to be earned from the game, it remains a hobby however high they reach or even if they play for the country and girls have to face a lot of resistance within the family. But now things will change fast and the first WPL will accelerate the process. The BCCI needs to be congratulated for giving a huge push to women's cricket in India by starting the WPL.
