WPL auction: Fight for Mandhana, demand for Australians, and focus on allrounders
The paddle was raised 28 times for Mandhana, while five players had four teams bidding for them
A total of 87 players were bought for INR 59.5 crore at the auction • BCCI
There was a total of INR 60 crore (US$ 7.3 million approx.) available for the five franchises to buy a maximum of 90 players at the auction. The limit was nearly achieved as 87 players were bought, and INR 59.5 crore was spent. Seven players earned bids as high as INR 2 crore, and three breached the INR 3-crore mark - Smriti Mandhana (INR 3.4 crore), Ashleigh Gardner (INR 3.2 crore) and Nat Sciver-Brunt (INR 3.2 crore).
Mandhana, the costliest player, was responsible for kick-starting the auction with a bang. The paddle was raised 28 times for her, all by two teams - Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers - the highest for any player.
The dominance shown by Australia at the international level in women's cricket translated into success for individuals at the WPL auction - 14 of the 30 available slots for overseas players were filled by them. INR 14.25 crore was spent for Australian players, nearly one-fourth of the total purse of five teams.
With only INR 12 crore available to each team, they focused on allrounders. As many as 46 players sold at the auction were categorised as allrounders, with all teams getting at least seven of them. INR 34.3 crore was spent on allrounders overall, including INR 9.6 crore for nine from Australia. Only 17 players sold at the auction were specialist bowlers, and the remaining 24 were either batters or wicketkeeper-batters.
Capitals was the most active team at the auction table, making bids for 38 players. Nine of the 18 players they bought were at their base price. On 15 occasions, they finished second best. UP Warriorz won seven of those 15 bidding battles.
The oldest player sold at the auction was Jasia Akhtar, the 34-year-old uncapped Indian. The sold list featured three other players who are going to be 34 by the time the tournament started: Erin Burns, Shabnim Ismail and Harmanpreet.
Sampath Bandarupalli is a statistician at ESPNcricinfo