Royal Challengers Bangalore Spends Over 28 Per Cent Of Budget On Smriti Mandhana. Is She Biggest Buy In A T20 League? | Cricket News

The inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League saw some new milestones being set as Smriti Mandhana became the most-expensive buy of the auction, with Royal Challengers Bangalore splashing INR 3.40 crore on the opening batter. Mandhana, who is undoubtedly one of the finest batters in the game, isn’t just known for his explosive ability with the bat but also is touted by many as the ‘future captain’ of the Indian women’s team. Seeing Mandhana fetch the biggest pay-package in the bidding war is not a surprise to any but what would’ve happened if she was a part of the Men’s Indian Premier League?

It was in 2008 that the inaugural edition of the Men’s Indian Premier League was held, with the likes of MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, etc. getting the biggest pay packages. Over the years, the T20 league has evolved a lot.

In the most recent IPL auction (2023), it was England all-rounder Sam Curran who bagged a whopping bid of INR 18.50 crore from Punjab Kings, making him the ‘most-expensive’ buy in the history of the T20 league.

When it comes to Indians, the likes of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul have both bagged contracts of Rs. 17 crores per year. In the auction, Ishan Kishan was bought for an eye-popping 16.25 crore by the Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2022 mega auction.

While these figures are understandably astonishing, they don’t compare to the amount Smriti Mandhana has been promised by the Women’s RCB franchise, as far as percentages go.

Join us in welcoming the first Royal Challenger, Smriti Mandhana!

Welcome to RCB #PlayBold #WeAreChallengers #WPL2023 #WPLAuction pic.twitter.com/7q9j1fb8xj

— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) February 13, 2023

At present, an IPL franchise is given a total of Rs 95 crore to sign players for a single season. Whereas, a women’s Premier League franchise was given a total of Rs 12 crore to build a team for the inaugural edition of the T20 league.

The Percentage Perspective

The biggest buy in IPL history, at present, is Sam Curran (Rs. 18.25 crore) of Punjab Kings. In terms of percentage, PBKS splashed a little over 19% of their total budget on the coveted English all-rounder.

Smriti Mandhana, who fetched Rs 3.40 crore from Royal Challengers Bangalore, on the other hand, is the biggest buy. In terms of percentage, RCB spent 28.33% of their overall budget on the southpaw.

Fair to say that in terms of percentages, Mandhana is one of the biggest purchases in the history of a T20 cricket league. If she was a part of the Men’s IPL auction, the percentage factor suggests that she would’ve been the biggest purchase in the history of T20 league.

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