The Player auction for the inaugural edition of the Women’s T20 League is currently underway in Mumbai. Bangalore bought Smriti Mandhana for a whopping amount of Rs 3.4 crores. Apart from Bangalore, Mumbai showed a lot of interest in Mandhana as they bid up to Rs 2.3 crore for her, But in the end, Bangalore signed this veteran player to their name.
However, there was good news for Mumbai fans after not being able to buy Mandhana. Mumbai signed Indian captain and powerful hitter Harmanpreet Kaur with them for Rs 1.8 crore. Harmanpreet is famous for her aggressive batting and now will appear in the jersey of the 5 times Indian T20 League champions.
Harmanpreet is currently leading the Indian women’s team in the ongoing 2023 Women’s 20-20 World Cup in South Africa where India started their campaign with a seven-wicket win over arch-rivals Pakistan under Harmanpreet’s leadership in Cape Town on Sunday. Mandhana, meanwhile, missed the first match as she is still recovering from a finger injury. She is expected to return in India’s next match in the major tournament.
Harmanpreet Kaur has 1 T20I century
She is the leading run-scorer for India in T20Is as she has scored 2956 runs in 147 matches she played in the shortest format so far at an average of 28.15. She has also smashed a century and 9 half-centuries in T20Is. The Punjab-born batter’s experience of playing in overseas leagues with the Melbourne Renegades in WBBL and Manchester Originals in Women’s Hundred will serve as an impetus for the Mumbai women’s team in the first season of the Women’s T20 League.
The auction is going on at the Jio World Conventional Center in Mumbai. There will be bidding for the first marquee players. At the same time, after this, there will be bidding on the rest of the players. Apart from Indian captain Harmanpreet, players like Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry, Ashley Gardner, and Hailey Mathew have been placed in the category of marquee players. Bidding is yet to happen on many veteran players.
Here’s how fans reacted:
Better than Smriti
— s. 🇮🇳 (@g00d_vib3zzz_) February 13, 2023
W signing for cheaper too ! Captain sorted
— Ishaan 🔴 (@Ishaan_04) February 13, 2023
Delhi would be perfect for her
— Jairam Rko🐍 (@jairamrko) February 13, 2023
Both men's and women's skipper in best franchise
— NIKHIL🇮🇳 (@nikhil_nsu) February 13, 2023
Hitman in Mumbai🔥
Hitwomen in Mumbai 🔥— 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐮𝐬⁴⁵ (@NewGodOfCricket) February 13, 2023
Smriti aani chahiye thi, par they have got Harman at a great price.
— Jayesh (@Jayesh_45) February 13, 2023
Perfect buy at low price deserved 🫰
— Lala Sampath (@LalaSampath) February 13, 2023
Men and women team captain in best team in the world 😍🤩😍🤩
— Shinchan Nohara (@Shinchan5Nohara) February 13, 2023
