WPL Auction: Team India captain Harmanpreet Kaur joins Mumbai Indians for INR 1.8 crores

The inaugural Women's Premier League (WPL) auction is underway on Monday (February 13). After Indian opener Smriti Mandhana was bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for INR 3.4 crores, Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur has been roped in by Mumbai Indians (MI) for INR 1.8 crores (INR 18 million). Kaur, known for his captaincy and power-hitting skills, was a big name in the auction and grabbed a lot of eyeballs once her name popped up.MI had to fight hard as they got into a bidding war with Delhi Capitals (DC), UP Warriorz (UW), and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to bag Harmanpreet's services.

Harmanpreet has been a big name in the international circuit. She has been India's T20I captain since 2017 and succeeded Mithali Raj to become the ODI skipper after her international retirement last year. Under Harmanpreet, India reached the 2020 T20 World Cup final and secured a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022 edition in Birmingham. She has scored six international hundreds -- five in ODIs and a solitary one in the shortest format -- with a career-best of 171* in the 2017 ODI WC semi-final (versus Australia).

Also Read:WPL 2023 Auction: Smriti Mandhana becomes first female player to be sold, goes to RCB for INR 3.4 crores

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Harmanpreet is expected to take charge of the MI franchise. If this happens, both the senior men's and women's team captains will be leading the Mumbai franchise. Senior men's team's captain Rohit Sharma has been captaining the MI line-up since IPL 2013.

Harmanpreet has appeared in three tests, 124 ODIs, and 147 T20Is for Team India. In T20Is, she has so far amassed2,956 runs, at 28.15, with one century and nine half-centuries. Thus, she is expected to take WPL by storm when the inaugural edition kicks off in India next month. At present, she is leading India in the ongoing Women's T20 WC in South Africa.