The much-anticipated Women’s T20 League auction began today in Mumbai. The biggest question before the event was who would be the most expensive player. Smriti Mandhana, India’s vice-captain, was expected to fetch a high price, and that is exactly what happened.
She was purchased for a large sum of money, with the Bangalore team paying 3.4 crores for her. She was the first name to be auctioned off at the event, and bids for her came in from both Mumbai and Bangalore. Even though Mumbai team owner Neeta Ambani was very interested in Mandhana’s services, Bangalore won the bidding war.
As soon as the hammer for her name went down, the Indian women’s team went wild with their celebration. All the team players congratulated and cheered for the opening batter. The Indian team is currently occupied in the Women’s 20-20 World Cup in South Africa. A video of the same has gone viral over the internet.
Here is the video of the Indian team congratulating Smriti Mandhana
Video of the day – celebration by Smriti & Indian team. pic.twitter.com/djAS0lVb6n
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) February 13, 2023
In the shortest format, the 26-year-old has appeared in 112 games for India. She has 2651 T20I runs with a brilliant average of 27 and a strike rate of 123. The opening batter has the potential to captain Bangalore in the inaugural season of the competition.
In the meantime, the star batter missed out on India’s opening match against arch-rivals Pakistan in the Women’s 20-20 World Cup 2023 due to a finger injury. However, she has not been in the finest form off late. She couldn’t even open the scoring against Australia in the World Cup practice match. She had previously been dismissed for a duck in the tri-series final against South Africa.
Early in the auction, the Bangalore team added a few more players. Sophie Devine, the star New Zealander, was obtained for a base price of only 50 lakhs. For the Bangalore team, this was a steal. They were in a bidding war with the Delhi team for Australia’s Ellyse Perry, but she was eventually purchased for 1.7 crores by Bangalore.
In the second round, they outbid everyone else for Renuka Singh, India’s rising pacer. The women in red already have a very strong squad, and they will look to add more good players to their roster.
