“To get them both at base price at the back-end was far beyond what we anticipated” – RCB's Mike Hesson after WPL Auction 2023
Mike Hesson has expressed delight after a breakthrough for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the Women’s Premier League (WPL) auction in Mumbai on Monday, February 13.
Director of cricket operations for RCB, Hesson, expressed gratitude for being able to buy England captain Heather Knight and Australian speedster Megan Schutt for a base price of Rs 40 lakh.
Speaking post-auction, Hesson said:
“We have got all-rounders, multi-class cricketers, so we bat deep and we have got plenty of bowling options and variety. We never thought we can get Megan Schutt, thought she would go for at least a crore. We never she would be worth bidding for and Heather Knight came in. To get them both at base price at the back-end was far beyond what we anticipated.”
In addition to leadership quality, Knight has scored 1520 runs and scalped 21 wickets in 95 T20Is. She has also played 129 ODIs and 10 Tests.
Meanwhile, Schutt has scalped 116 wickets in 91 T20Is. Overall, she has scalped 237 wickets across formats for Australia.
“It’s a nice combination” – Mike Hesson on RCB squad for WPL 2023
Mike Hesson feels that Bangalore have brought the right players to play an entertaining brand of cricket. The squad features the most expensive players: Smriti Mandhana (Rs 3.4 crore), Australian all-rounder Ellyse Perry (Rs 1.7 crore), and New Zealand captain Sophie Devine (Rs 50 lakh).
The 48-year-old said:
“We have got a lot of highly experienced batters and now with Megan Schutt as well, good bowling attack. It’s a nice combination. We’ve got a squad of both domestic and international players. It will give them a good opportunity to perform well. I think we’ll play a brand of cricket that’ll entertain.”
RCB squad for IPL 2023: Smriti Mandhana, Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry, Renuka Singh, Richa Ghosh, Indrani Roy, Disha Kasat, Shreyanka Patil, Kanika Ahuja, Asha Shobhana, Erin Burns, Heather Knight, Dane van Niekerk, Preeti Bose, Poonam Khemnar, Komal Zanzad, Megan Schutt, Sahana Pawar.