WPL 2023: Rating teams based on their auction performance

Recently, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) brought cheers to the faces of Women's cricket fans and supporters with the announcement of the much-awaited Women's Premier League (WPL). Earlier on February 13, 449 cricketers went under the hammer at the WPL player auction held in Mumbai. On the auction table, five franchises gave their best for the inaugural edition of the tournament too build strong teams.  

Marquee names such as Smriti Mandhana, Ellyse Perry, Ashleigh Gardner, and Harmanpreet Kaur were expected to attract the franchises and the same happened as they were sold for big bucks. Now, after the announcement of the WPL schedule, the fans and franchises will want the players to showcase their class in the competition. Along with these fabled names, the eyes will be set on young domestic players also as they will also have to show up and reinforce their teams with their phenomenal talent. While all teams did well during the auction, let's look at the team that did the best job.

Here are ratings of the five teams based on their performances on the auction table

5.  Mumbai Indians (MI)

At the auction, Mumbai Indians (MI) bought 17 players of which some huge buys were England all-rounder Natalie Sciver-Brunt (INR 3.2 crore) and the Indian Women’s team captain Harmanpreet Kaur (INR 1.8 crore). Both players have been serving their respective countries for a long time and they will come together for MI and use their experience to win games with their skills.

After investing in both veterans, the franchise had 7 crores left in the purse. With that amount, the franchises roped in some other quality players such as the Indian pacer Pooja Vastrakar (INR 1.9 crore), wicketkeeper-batter Yastika Bhatia (INR 1.5 crore), New Zealand all-rounder Amelia Kerr (INR 1 crore), and the West Indies skipper Hayley Matthews (INR 40 lakh).

However, spending a huge sum on Bhatia could cost the franchise as the 22-year-old hasn’t shown her best with the bat in the international circuit, especially in T20Is. So far, in 14 T20 International matches, the left-handed batter has scored only 142 runs at a strike rate of 86.58.