"They were not buying Indians at all,” points out Aakash Chopra on Gujarat Giants' strategy at WPL Auction
Mithali Raj, Rachael Haynes were sitting in WPL Auction for Gujarat
The first-ever auction for the first-ever season of the Women’s Indian Premier League was held in Mumbai on Monday, marking a historic day for women’s cricket. As many as 87 players were sold at the auction for Rs 59.5 crore, with Smriti Mandhana emerging as the most expensive pick at Rs 3.40 crore.
Mandhana will play for Royal Challengers Bangalore, while Harmanpreet Kaur was sold to Mumbai Indians for Rs 1.80 crore. Sophie Ecclestone will play for UP Warriorz, while Ashleigh Gardner went to Gujarat Giants.
The Gujarat Giants formed an 18-member squad at the auction, including six overseas players. They spent Rs 7.85 crore from their Rs 12-crore purse on overseas players.
Former cricketer and now an active analyst and commentator Akash Chopra has pointed out that the Giants largely looked interested in acquiring the services of only foreign players.
"Gujarat - very interesting. Ashleigh Gardner - ₹3.2 crore. I feel they might be wanting to make her the captain, that's what I feel. After that, two crores for Beth Mooney. Then they kept Deandra Dottin as well. They were not buying Indians at all," Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
Former India player and captain Mithali Raj is working as the mentor of the Giants, and was a part of the auction table of the team. Mentioning Raj, Chopra said that her domestic experience with Railways helped her bringing in a few lesser-known Indian players in the Giants squad.
“They picked Harleen Deol and Sneh Rana almost close to the base price. I felt they will get stuck. Then because Mithali (Raj) is there, they assembled their team with many Railways and lesser-known local Indian players."
The only two Indian players on whom the Giants spent in excess of Rs 40 lakh were Sneh Rana (Rs 75 lakh) and Harleen Deol (Rs 40 lakh).
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