The first-ever auction for the inaugural edition of the Women’s T20 League, which is underway at the Jio World Convention Centre. Indian team’s opener and vice-captain Smriti Mandhana was sold at a huge price. Her base price was Rs 50 lakh and Bangalore bought her for 3 crores 40 lakhs.
The auction started with Mandhana’s name. Mumbai made the first bid to buy her. After this Delhi went ahead and also joined the bidding war. After the withdrawal of Delhi, the competition started between Bangalore and Mumbai. In the end, Bangalore ended up signing Mandhana and she became the first player to be sold in the Women’s T20 League.
The 26-year-old is among the top batters in the world. She has scored 2651 runs in T20Is for India so far at an average of 27.31 with a strike rate of 123.13. Mandhana also has 20 fifties in this format. She has also hit 50 sixes. This is the reason why there was a lot of tussle in the Women’s T20 League auction to buy them. Australian player Ellyse Perry was also sold to Bangalore for 1.8 crores. This makes Bangalore’s top order very dangerous.
Smriti Mandhana missed the first match of the Women’s 20-20 World Cup
However, the left-hander is suffering from a finger injury. Due to this, she could not play in India’s first match of the ongoing Women’s 20-20 World Cup 2023 against arch-rivals Pakistan. Her recent form is also nothing special as she could not even open the account against Australia in the practice match of the World Cup. Before that, she was also dismissed for a duck in the final match of the tri-series against South Africa.
Starting with the auction itself, the Women’s T20 League is expected to bring a huge shift in the landscape of women’s cricket. Some of the biggest names from around the world are going under the hammer, apart from Indian stars like Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, Shafali Verma, and Jemimah Rodrigues. A maximum of 90 slots are available with the five teams, with 30 being slotted for overseas players.
Here’s how the fans reacted:
poor smirti…
— RK 2.O (@Mahigoat007) February 13, 2023
Khatam career
— Jayveer Ahir (@Jayveer_09) February 13, 2023
her career gonna get destroyed bro
— idk (@smudge6174) February 13, 2023
Lmao more than what dabur got in psl
— 𝐙𝐨𝐧𝐞²⁶⁴ (@buttfuckedby264) February 13, 2023
no 18 going to bangelore is permanent 😍😍😍😍😍
— Kawal7818 (@kawal7818) February 13, 2023
lowest moment of her career
— To be revealed soon (@vijay_fan22) February 13, 2023
More than zimbabar🤣🤣🤣
— Viratian (@kingofcricket05) February 13, 2023
Idk why.. but it sounds different from men being sold to a franchise 😅
— Viksa Vedantist (@AutodidactVikas) February 13, 2023
Ee sala cup namde
— Sankar Mathavan (@sm_talkz) February 13, 2023
