India’s star opening batter Smriti Mandhana emerged as the most expensive buy in the player auction for the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League in Mumbai on Monday.

Mandhana was the first name in the auction and ended up being the biggest buy of the day, being acquired by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for a whopping Rs 3.4 crore.

Australia’s Ashleigh Gardner and England’s Natalie Sciver-Brunt were the only other players who fetched bids of over Rs 3 crore. While Gardner went to Gujarat Giants for Rs 3.2 crore, Sciver-Brunt was picked up by Mumbai Indians for Rs 3.2 crore.

Deepti Sharma was the second-most expensive Indian player on the day. The all-rounder went to UP Warriorz for Rs 2.6 crore. Jemimah Rodrigues, who played a starring role in India’s opening victory against Pakistan in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, went to Delhi Capitals for Rs 2.2 crore.

Harmanpreet Kaur, India’s current captain in T20 Internationals, was acquired by Mumbai Indians for Rs 1.8 crore. Shafali Verma, India’s U19 World Cup-winning captain, got a Rs 2 crore bid from Delhi Capitals, while keeper-batter Richa Ghosh and all-rounder Pooja Vastrakar got bids of Rs 1.9 crore each from RCB and MI respectively.

Here’s a look at the top 10 most expensive players in the WPL 2023 auction:

Top 10 picks