WPL 2023 Auction Round-up: Smriti Mandhana Becomes Most Expensive Player, Check List of Sold and Unsold Players at Inaugural Auction
Check below for real-time updates of the Women's Premier League 2023 inaugural auction, which is taking place in Mumbai. A total of five franchises, which acquired teams in the competition last month, will be looking to sign some of the best players on offer.
What a day it was as history was made with the first-ever Women's Premier League auction. A total of Rs 59.50 crore was spent by the five franchises at the auction on 87 players, out of nearly 500, which went under the hammer. RCB made the most expensive signing in Smriti Mandhana (Rs 3.4 crores) while England's Nat Sciver and Australia's Ashleigh Gardener became the joint-most expensive overseas star, having been signed for Rs 3.2 crores by Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Giants, respectively.Â
And RCB have signed the last player who came up at the auction--Sahana Pawar, for a sum of Rs 10 lakh. And with that, the Women's Premier League 2023 auction has come to an end!Â
RCB have signed Komal Zanzad for Rs 25 lakh, Gujarat Giants get Parunika Sisodia for Rs 10 lakh. Priyanka Bala has been signed by Mumbai Indians for Rs 20 lakh.Â
Delhi Capitals sign Jasia Akhter for Rs 20 lakh. Dhara Gujjar was sold to Mumbai Indians for Rs 10 lakh. Divya Gnanananda and Ishwari Savkar have gone unsold.Â
Mahika Gaur, Preeti Bose and Ekta Bisht have gone unsold. Gaur saw a bid from Gujarat Giants but their overseas quota had been completed. Delhi Capitals have signed Tara Norris.Â
A new era in Indian womenâs cricket is set to begin with the Womenâs Premier League inaugural auctions taking place. This day will always remain an important landmark in the history of womenâs cricket, as some top stars from the game will be under the hammer. Five franchisesâfrom Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Lucknow and Ahmedabad will look to acquire some of the biggest names in the mix with the likes of Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, Shafali Verma and Deepti Sharma among the ones who are likely to fetch some big bids. The inaugural WPL auction will see 448 players up for grabs, out of which 269 are Indians and 179 are overseas. Every team in the WPL will need to have a minimum and maximum player count of 15 and 18, respectively. WPL 2023 Auction Free Live Streaming Online: Watch Live Telecast of Inaugural Women's Premier League Players Auction on Sports18 and JioCinema Online.
Also, every team will be able to sign a maximum of eight overseas players in the WPL auction. Every team will also have a purse of Rs 12 crore to buy the players they have targeted at the auction. With a massive collective bid of Rs 4699.99 from the five-team owners, the WPL has already surpassed the likes of established competitions like the Womenâs Big Bash League and The Hundred. The Womenâs Premier League's first edition will have 22 matches between March 4 and 26 at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai and Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Why is WPL 2023 Auction Live Streaming Online Not Available on Disney+ Hotstar?.
A historic day awaits fans and this event will certainly set the benchmark for future tournament editions. It would be interesting to see which player turns out to be the most expensive buy at the auction and how the squads look ahead of the competition's inaugural edition. Fierce bidding wars are expected to take place between owners of the five franchises who have their sights set on signing the best players on offer.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 13, 2023 02:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).