Cricket is becoming a profitable career option for women nowadays as it is for men worldwide. On February 13, the player auction for the T20 Women’s Premier League (WPL) made top women cricketers millionaires overnight and brought hope for those on the fringe. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), its managers and the auctioneer were accommodating to the franchise needs, providing sufficient time for the teams to think through the strategies

Indian batter Smriti Mandhana was the most expensive buy at the inaugural Women’s Premier League auction in Mumbai, going to Royal Challengers Bangalore for INR 3.4 crore. The amount is as high as what was paid by IPL franchises for elite men’s cricketers like Ajinkya Rahane, Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, England’s Adil Rashid and Australia’s Adam Zampa etc. She was also the first player to come up for bidding at the auction on Monday.

Smriti Mandhana’s Perspective

The Vice-Captain later put the importance of the day in her viewpoint. “Over the last 10 years, we have been watching auctions for men… It’s such a big movement for women’s cricket. I think this is history. I think the whole thing is exciting and I am saying it’s an exciting time ahead,” she said.

Also Read: Vice-Captain Smriti Mandhana Suffers Finger Injury, Likely To Miss India’s Women’s T20 World Cup Opener Against Pakistan

RCB spent nearly 50% of their INR 12 crore purse on three players in the first marquee set. “Everyone knows Mandhana and Perry, we were pretty committed to the couple of people we wanted to get,” RCB director of cricket Mike Hesson commented. Further, he said  “We’re very happy to get such quality players. It’s a dream result for us to get Mandhana, Perry and Devine. Smriti has plenty of captaincy experience and is familiar with the Indian conditions, so highly likely [she’ll be captain].”

India captain Harmanpreet Kaur went for Rs 1.8 crore, Shafali Verma (Rs 2 crore), the captain of India’s victorious U-19 World Cup side, Jemimah Rodrigues (Rs 2.2 crore) and Richa Ghosh (Rs 1.9 crore). While international stars such as Australians Ashleigh Gardner (Rs 3.2 crore), Ellyse Perry (Rs 1.7 crore), Beth Mooney (Rs 2 crore) and Meg Lanning (Rs 1.1 crore), and England’s Natalie Sciver-Brunt (Rs 3.2 crore), also went for big amounts.