In what was already set to be a historic day at the Women's Premier League, Smriti Mandhana etched her name in history books as she became the first player ever to get sold at the Player Auction for the Women's League. Moreover, she has also been the most expensive purchase at the auction so far as Royal Challengers Bangalore outbid rivals Mumbai Indians to rope the left-handed in for INR 3.4 Crore.
It is pertinent to note that Mumbai and Bangalore, both teams having their entire purse intact, as she was the first name to go under the hammer, went all out for her but eventually it was Bangalore who managed to bag her in their side, paying over a quarter of their entire purse to bag in just 1 player.
Mandhana, who is currently part of India's Women's T20 World Cup squad in South Africa, celebrated the moment with her teammates. The entire team was watching the auction on a big screen and a video of the celebrations of the team has made its way on social media. The India vice-captain's teammates cheered loudly as the bidding price went high and higher.
Watch the video here:
Mandhana is likely to be the captain of the Bangalore franchise as was indicated by Mike Hesson during a press conference.
“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 ,” said Hesson, who is Director of Cricket Operations at RCB.
Meanwhile, Harmanpreet Kaur, which was the second name to be called at the Auction, went for INR 1.8 Crore to the Mumbai Indians.