After 4 successful seasons of IPL Women’s T20 challenge, the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League T20 is all set to get underway from March 3 onwards. The tournament is expected to gain plenty of traction in terms of financial and technical aspects and all the 5 teams will produce cut throat competition.
All the franchise owners entered the fray after investing hefty sums and the total of cost of buying all the 5 teams were whopping INR 4669 Crores. This season’s success could decide the expansion of the teams from different regions of India.
At the moment, the 5 teams are – Royal Challengers Bangalore Women, Delhi Capitals Women, UP Warriorz, Gujarat Giants and Mumbai Indians Women. Most of the owners are IPL men’s team stake holders too and every management will now look to get high returns after massive investment.
But before the tournament begins, let’s find out the Top 5 players who became the most expensive buys at WPL Auction 2023.
5. Jemimah Rodrigues (Delhi Capitals) – The 22-year-old Mumbai born batter became the 5th most expensive player at WPL 2023 Auction when Delhi Capitals went behind the player right after the day she navigated India to a 7-wicket victory in the opening game of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. She scored 53 off 38 balls and scored the winning runs against arch-rivals Pakistan women. She could be one of the contenders for Delhi Capitals’ captaincy role and the Indian national player will be important for DC (W). In 69 innings, Jemimah 1661 runs with a strike rate of 113.14 and 10 Fifties.
4. Deepti Sharma (UP Warriorz) – The 25-year-old All-rounder was sold to the UP Warriorz. She has been an important player for Indian team since her debut in 2014. She has been amassing runs and picking wickets at a consistent basis for the Blues and she will be a huge asset for UP Warriorz in the inaugural WPL season. Deepti has played 91 T20 matches for India, picking 921 runs and amazing 101 wickets with an outstanding economy rate of 6.15.
3. Natalie Sciver (Mumbai Indians Women) – English All-rounder Natalie Sciver-Brunt became the 3rd expensive player in WPL 2023 Auction. She is currently number 2 in ICC Women’s All-rounder rankings and number 4 in the Batting rankings. Alongside players like Harmanpreet Singh, Amilia Kerr, Pooja Vastrakar among many more, Mumbai Indians Women’s team will be a contender for WPL. As for Natalie Sciver, she has played 107 senior T20 matches for England and scored 2135 runs with a decent average of 26.82. Her bowling stats suggests that the 30-year-old has 79 wickets with an economy rate of 6.45.
2. Ashleigh Gardner (Gujarat Giants) – Owners of Gujarat Giants were applauded by pundits when they splashed INR 3.2 Crores for Australian All-Rounder Ashleigh Gardner and made her the 2nd most expensive player in WPL 2023. The 25-year-old operates as Right-handed Batter and bowls right arm off-break. In 71 WT20 international matches, Gardner has 1116 runs with a strike rate of 131.44. Her bowling figures says that she has 50 wickets with an economy rate of 6.23.
1. Smriti Mandhana (Royal Challengers Bangalore Women) – India opener Smriti Mandhana was the first player to go under the hammer. She was expected to attract high bidding and rightfully so, a lot of franchises jumped into the fray for bagging the left-handed batter. Royal Challengers Bangalore Women bagged her in the end for a price of INR 3.40 Crore. The explosive batter has 2800 runs in 115 matches and 111 innings with a strike rate of 124.05.
