RCB strike a good balance
BENGALURU: Months before the formal announcement of the Women's Premier League (WPL) in January this year, Royal Challengers Bangalore started to prepare their blueprint. Talent scouts were added to the existing team and from October 2022 they travelled across the country for leagues and BCCI domestic tournaments. The hard yards and the planning reflected in the assemblage they put together on Monday for the inaugural edition.
1/10:WPL Auction: When Smriti Mandhana stole the thunder outside a stadium
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2/10:Smriti Mandhana
<p>Smriti Mandhana fetched a Rs 3.40 crore deal in the inaugural WPL auction as RCB pipped Mumbai Indians in a bidding war on Monday.</p>Getty Images
3/10:Deepti Sharma
<p>The second-costliest Indian player was all-rounder Deepti Sharma, whose induction cost UP Warriorz Rs 2.6 crore.</p>Getty Images
4/10:Raking in the moolah
<p>Deepti stands at number four in the overall list of costliest players in WPL.</p>Getty Images
5/10:Shafali Verma
<p>Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues were picked by Delhi Capitals for Rs 2 crore and Rs 2.20 crore respectively.</p>Getty Images
6/10:Jemimah Rodrigues
<p>Jemimah Rodrigues stands as the fifth-most expensive player in the overall list of players sold in the auctions.</p>Getty Images
7/10:Harmanpreet Kaur
<p>India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur cost Mumbai Indians Rs 1.80 crore - much lower than several of her colleagues in the Indian team and peers in other teams.</p>Getty Images
8/10:Harleen Deol
<p>Gujarat mostly bought foreign players and also bought Harleen Deol for Rs 40 lakh.</p>Getty Images
9/10:Ashleigh Gardner
<p>Gujarat bought Ashleigh Gardner and Mumbai Indians bought Nat Sciver-Brunt at Rs 3.20 crore each - the second and third costliest players.</p>Getty Images
10/10:Ellyse Perry
<p>Ellyse Perry received a Rs 1.70 crore winning bid from RCB, which also got Sophie Devine at the base price of Rs 50 lakh.</p>Getty ImagesAt the auction table in Mumbai, the think-tank led by Mike Hesson, RCB's director of cricket operations, were in T20 mode and stretched their purse to snap up India vice-captain and top-order bat Smriti Mandhana for a whopping Rs. 3.4 crore.
Smriti serves the dual purpose of batting versatility and leadership experience, and as Hesson admitted, she is the team's likely choice of skipper.
"Smriti has plenty of captaincy experience. She knows the conditions well, so it is highly likely (that she will captain the team). Like any leadership group, you need senior players around to contribute and we have highly experienced international players," said the New Zealander.
The Bengaluru-based franchise has struck a good balance between homegrown talent and overseas expertise. First up, they have slotted Indian internationals in key positions. While Smriti holds together the top-order, the power-hitting wicket keeper-batter Richa Ghosh (Rs 1.9 crore), a member of the U-19 T20 World Cup winning team, is in the middle-order and Renuka Singh (Rs 1.5 crore) has the potential to be the team's frontline pacer.
Among the overseas players, RCB's best buy is probably Australian Ellyse Perry, one of the finest all-rounders of this generation. They also got two national team captains for a steal with New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine and her England counterpart Heather Knight coming in at their base price of Rs 50 lakh and Rs 40 lakh respectively. The scouts, which includes former Karnataka top-order batter VR Vanitha, have picked players from various parts of the country.
Left-hand bat and right-arm off spinner Kanika Ahuja is from Punjab, Asha Shobana is a wrist spinner from Kerala, Vidarbha's Komal Zanzad is a left-arm pacer, while Leggie Poonam Khemnar is from Nagaland.
SHREYANKA, SAHANA ROPED IN
Karnataka's all-rounder Shreyanka Patil and left-arm spinner Sahana Pawar are the two Karnataka players in RCB's line-up. While Shreyanka came up midway through the process, Sahana was part of the accelerated bidding and the last player to make the WPL cut.
MONICA GOES TO GUJARAT
Karnataka's left-arm pacer Monica Patel was the third from the state to be picked at the auction. She went to Gujarat Giants for Rs 30 lakh. However, seasoned campaigner and captain of the state team Veda Krishnamurthy went unsold on Monday.
