87 players sold for the first season of WPL for a whopping INR ₹59.50 Cr. Smriti Mandana is the most expensive of the lot. She was bought for ₹3.40 Cr by RCB. Indian women's team captain Harmanpreet Kaur was bought by Mumbai Indians for INR 1.80 crore. Jemimah Rodrigues was bought for INR 2.2 Cr by Delhi Capitals. UP Warriorz bought Deepti Sharma for INR 2.6 Cr.
The top 3 expensive Indian players for the WPL auction are Smriti Mandana, Jemimah Rodrigues & Deepti Sharma. The top three International players in this year's WPL auction are Ashleigh Gardner, Nat Sciver-Brunt & Beth Mooney.
In my opinion, to start the amount of confidence shown by franchises is commendable. These girls never thought in their life that they will get so much amount of money for just playing cricket. WPL has opened the doors of immense earning opportunities for every girl playing cricket in India and abroad.
Aussie cricketers were in demand, it wasn't a surprise as they have a top-notch team and their bench strength is also amazing. Lots of good players went unsold so it feels like there is space for a couple of teams as well, maybe after 1-2 seasons.
USA - 1
WI - 2
NZ - 2
SA - 4
Eng - 7
Aus - 14