Smriti Mandhana bought by RCB for whopping Rs 3.40 crore, MI gets Harmanpreet for nearly half
Mumbai (PTI): Smriti Mandhana stole the thunder in the inaugural Women's Premier League auctions as Royal Challengers Bangalore pipped Mumbai Indians in a bidding war to buy the India vice-captain for Rs 3.40 crore (USD 410,000) here on Monday.
The second costliest Indian player so far is all-rounder Deepti Sharma who was bought by UP Warriorz for Rs 2.6 crore.
However, India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur came much cheaper for Mumbai Indians at nearly half the price of Mandhana at Rs 1.80 crore.
"Everyone knows Mandhana and Perry, we were pretty committed to the couple of people we wanted to get. We're very happy to get such quality players. It's a dream result for us to get Mandhana, Perry and Devine," RCB Director of Cricket Mike Hesson said during a media interaction.
"Smriti has got plenty of captaincy experience and is familiar with the Indian conditions, so highly likely (she'll be the captain)."
One of the prominent picks during the first round was Australia's off-spin all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner, who was bought by Gautam Adani-owned Gujarat Giants for Rs 3.20 crore (USD 386,000).
Star Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry received a cool Rs 1.70 crore (USD 205,000) winning bid from RCB who also got New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine dirt cheap at base price of Rs 50 lakh.
RCB has already exhausted Rs 5.60 crore out of Rs 12 crore purse and they need to get another 12 players with the rest of the Rs 6.40 crore to have a mandatory squad size of 15 players.
UP Warriorz also got England left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone on board for Rs 1.80 crore.
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Siraj shines as Gujarat Titans limit Livingstone-led RCB to 169/8
Bengaluru (PTI): An impeccable Mohammed Siraj led a group of fired-up Gujarat Titans bowlers as they limited the vaunted batting unit of Royal Challengers Bengaluru to 169 for eight despite a providential 54 by Liam Livingstone in the IPL match here on Wednesday.
Once the Titans decided to bowl first, they would not have envisioned such a domination over a potent batting line-up even considering the rather unexpected slow and grippy pitch.
The slip-down started with the wicket of Virat Kohli (7), who began with a lovely cover driven four off Siraj (4-0-19-3).
But the ace batter fell to left-arm seamer Arshad Khan, who came in for Kagiso Rabada, attempting a pull that ended in the hands of Prasidh Krishna at fine leg.
Thereafter the RCB top-order was poleaxed by GT bowlers led by Siraj, who joined the side after a seven-season stint in the red and gold jersey.
Phil Salt, who was dropped on zero by Jos Buttler off Siraj, skipper Rajat Patidar and Devdutt Padikkal paraded back to the hut as RCB slumped to 42 for four in 6.2 overs.
However, Salt and Devdutt might feel a tinge of regret because both of them tried to give space to themselves for big shots to get castled by Siraj.
Perhaps, a bit of restraint could have earned them a longer life-span in the middle.
However, the Royal Challengers found some stability through Jitesh Sharma (33, 21b) and Livingstone (54, 40b, 1x4, 5x6) as they added 52 runs off 38 balls for the fifth wicket.
The impressive left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore (2/22), who varied his line and pace exemplarily, broke the alliance, dismissing Jitesh, who skied him to Rahul Tewatia.
It was a redemption point for Tewatia as well because he had earlier dropped Livingstone on 9 off Sai Kishore.
It proved costly for GT as the English batter hammered Rashid Khan for three sixes in an over, two in a row, to reach his fifty in 39 balls.
Livingstone milked 46 precious runs for the seventh wicket with Tim David to take RCB past the 150-run mark.
David's 18-ball 32 (3x4, 2x6) gave the home side some fuel in the death overs.
