Mumbai: Several of the world’s top women cricketers secured deals worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in the inaugural Women’s Premier League auction on Monday, with India’s attacking batter Smriti Mandhana leading the way on $410,000.
The left-handed 26-year-old was the first lot on the block at the sale in Mumbai, and was the object of a bidding war.
Nita Ambani — who is the wife of Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, and owns the Mumbai Indians franchise — placed several bids for Mandhana’s services before the Royal Challengers Bangalore prevailed.
The cash-rich Indian Premier League has transformed the fortunes of cricket globally, and the women’s version could rapidly become one of the world’s biggest money-spinners in women’s sport.
“I was always glued to men’s auction,” a beaming Mandhana said afterwards. “It’s such a big event to have an auction of this sort.”
Australian all-rounder Ash Gardner was the second most expensive player in the first batch of sales, with Gujarat Giants paying $387,000 for her.
Royal Challengers Bangalore also bagged Ellyse Perry of Australia for $205,000 and Sophie Devine of New Zealand for her base price of $60,000.
“We’re very happy to get such quality players,” said Mike Hesson, director of cricket operations for the Bangalore franchise. “It was a dream result for us.”
The limited available data on women players had challenged the teams ahead of the auction, he added.
“You can’t just sit on your phone and search Cricinfo and find out about people. It’s more about being able to go out, being able to get a number of different eyes on players, so you can validate your information.”
Delhi Capitals co-owner Parth Jindal described himself as “a follower of the women’s game”.
“But apart from the Indian players and a couple of the legendary players from the other teams, I did not know many of the names, but it’s as competitive, it’s as tricky,” he told reporters.
“Some of the skill sets are even different from the men’s. You see a lot more all-rounders in this game than you do in the men’s game.”
English all-rounder Nat Sciver-Brunt was sold for around $387,000 to Mumbai Indians, while spinner Sophie Ecclestone went to UP Warriorz for $220,000.
But England skipper Heather Knight went unsold in the initial rounds of the auction — although she could come up for bidding again later.
