Watch: Smriti Mandhana reacts on becoming costliest player of WPL 2023

Going by the details, RCB have spent more than half of their total bidding capacity on four players in the first marquee set. These include India’s explosive wicketkeeper-batsman Richa Ghosh. 1.9 crores for Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry 1.7 crores and for Indian bowler Renuka Singh 1.5 crores. However, the franchise bought New Zealand all-rounder Sophie Devine for the base price. 50 lakhs only.

Watch LIVE WPL 2023 auction here.

She couldn’t contain her reaction after being named the costliest player in the WPL 2023 bidding. The elegant left-handed batsman could be seen all happy, apart from all his teammates cheering him on.

Watch the viral video here:

Commenting on the possibility of Mandhana being the captain, RCB’s director of cricket said at the presser, as quoted ESPNcricinfo“Everyone knows Mandhana and Perry, we were very committed to the people we wanted to get. We are very happy to have got players of such quality. It’s a dream come true for us to get Mandhana, Perry and Devine. The result is there. Smriti has got it. She has a lot of captaincy experience and is familiar with Indian conditions so there is a lot of potential (she will be the captain).

Apart from Mandhana, Australian all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner, England all-rounder Natalie Sciver, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Beth Mooney, Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, Pooja Vastrakar, Harmanpreet Kaur and others were bought by the franchise for more than 1.5 crores.

Currently bidding is going on. As per the details provided by the BCCI, 448 players will come under the purview of the auction, with a maximum of 90 players from five teams – Delhi Capitals, Gujarat Giants, Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore and UP Warriors. Each team will be able to select 15-18 players whose salary purse 12 crore each.