WPL Auction: Smriti Mandhana tops money chart as RCB pips Mumbai Indians

High bidding sees ten Indians earn crore-plus dealsMUMBAI: Smriti Mandhana had to sit out of India's thrilling win over Pakistan in their Women's T20 World Cup opener because of an injury but her mood must have surely lifted on Monday when she emerged as the top pick in the inaugural Women's Premier League (WPL) auction held in Mumbai.AS IT HAPPENED: WPL PLAYER AUCTIONThe India vice-captain was bought for Rs 3.4 crore by Royal Challengers Bangalore after a fierce battle with Mumbai Indians. All 15 Indian players in the World Cup squad were sold with 10 of them crossing the Rs 1 crore-mark.

Australia allrounder Ashleigh Gardner and England's Nat Sciver-Brunt received the joint second-highest bids at Rs 3.2 crore; bought by Gujarat Giants and Mumbai Indians respectively.

Allrounder Deepti Sharma received the second highest bid for an Indian player with UP Warriorz buying her for Rs 2.6 crore. She was followed by Jemimah Rodrigues (Rs 2.2cr to DC), Shafali Verma (Rs 2cr to DC), Richa Ghosh (Rs 1.9cr to RCB), Pooja Vastrakar (Rs 1.9cr to MI), Harmanpreet Kaur (Rs 1.8cr to MI), Yastika Bhatia (Rs 1.5cr to MI), Renuka Thakur (Rs 1.5cr to RCB) and Devika Vaidya (Rs 1.4cr to UP). Of the top 10 overall buys, six were Indians.Second player up for grabs was India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur with Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, RCB and Warriorz bidding for her at different stages but it stopped at Rs 1.8 crore in favour of MI. It was expected that Harmanpreet would fetch similar, if not a higher, bid compared to Mandhana but such are the auction dynamics that in the end she was slotted in seventh place among the top Indian buys.

With the league put together in a short time, the franchises decided to bring known players on board and it