5 most expensive overseas signing at the WPL Auction 2023 

The Women’s Premier League auction 2023 (WPL Auction) took place in Mumbai today and could be remembered as a landmark day for women's cricket. A total of 87 cricketers bagged contracts at the inaugural WPL auction 2023 from 90 possible slots. 57 of the selected players were Indians.

Indian superstars including Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma drew huge bids.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) broke their bank and splashed ₹3.40 crore at Mandhana to make her the costliest player at the WPL Auction 2023. Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur was bagged by the Mumbai Indians for ₹1.80 crore while Shafali Verma (₹2 crore) and Deepti Sharma (₹2.60) were picked up by Delhi Capitals and UP Warriorz, respectively.

Apart from Indian players bagging enormous deals at the auction, many overseas talents also drew huge bids.

Here are the top five most expensive overseas purchases at the Women's Premier League Auction (WPL) 2023.

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#5 Ellyse Perry - ₹1.70 Cr to Royal Challengers Bangalore Women

Inarguably one of the best all-rounders in the game at the moment, Ellyse Perry is a mega-star who will light up the WPL with her flamboyance. The Australian will don the colors of the Royal Challengers Bangalore, who secured her services for ₹1.70 crore.

This might prove to be one of the most shrewd signings of the auction, as Perry's experience of over 265 international games for Australia will be a great asset for the Bangalore franchise.

The Delhi Capitals and RCB competed in a bidding war for Ellyse Perry before the latter emerged victorious with a bid of ₹1.70 crore.

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#4 Sophie Ecclestone - ₹1.80 Cr to UP Warriorz

A strong core set-up by UP Warriorz includes England's Sophie Ecclestone, who was purchased for a price of ₹1.80 crore.

The tall left-arm spinner had a base price of ₹50 lakh and generated interest from Delhi Capitals and Gujarat Giants. The UP-based franchise, however, entered the winning bid for the 23-year-old.

Often compared to Daniel Vettori, Ecclestone made her debut for England as a 17-year-old and has since bagged 193 international wickets across formats.

Interestingly, a few minutes after securing her inaugural WPL contract, Ecclestone bowled a double wicket maiden during her 3/13 spell in the ongoing Women's T20 World Cup fixture between England and Ireland.

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#3 Beth Mooney - ₹2 Cr to Gujarat Giants

One of the best wicket-keeper openers of her generation, Beth Mooney, was the costliest wicket-keeper at the WPL auction.

The swashbuckling Australian was snapped up by the Gujarat Giants for a fee of ₹2 crore. With her base price set at ₹40 lakh, franchises including Mumbai and Bangalore started bidding for Mooney. Soon after, Gujarat entered the race for the 29-year-old before securing her services for a couple of crores.

With a total of 2144 T20I runs in 72 innings, Mooney is currently the ICC World's No. 2 ranked T20I batter in Women's cricket.

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#2 Ashleigh Gardner - ₹3.20 Cr to Gujarat Giants

Another all-rounder on the list, Ashleigh Gardner, became the joint-most expensive overseas buy at the 2023 WPL auction.

The Australian No. 4 is a proper team player who is adept with both bat and ball. After ending the last T20I series against India as the joint-highest wicket-taker with seven wickets, Gardner recently bowled a terrific spell of 5/12 against New Zealand during Australia's first fixture at the ongoing ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023.

UP Warriorz and Mumbai Indians began bidding for Gardner before Gujarat sealed the deal at ₹3.20 crore.

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#1 Nat Sciver-Brunt - ₹3.20 Cr to Mumbai Indians Women

Star English all-rounder Nat Sciver-Brunt became the joint-most expensive overseas player at the auction when the Mumbai Indians put in a bid of ₹3.20 crore.

MI and DC started the bidding war and took the price to ₹1.60 crore. UP Warriors then tried to sneak in and stayed in the fight till the price reached ₹3 crore. The Mumbai franchise, however, remained adamant and secured the service of Sciver-Brunt.

The 30-year-old has played 100 T20I innings for England, scoring 1999 runs in the process. Apart from this, she has also taken 78 wickets in her T20I career.