Delhi Capitals beat MI to sign World Cup-winning captain Meg Lanning at WPL Auction 2023

The Delhi Capitals (DC) have roped in Australia's World Cup-winning captain Meg Lanning at the WPL Auction 2023 for ₹1.1 crore. The Delhi-based franchise beat Mumbai Indians (MI) in a bidding war to recruit Lanning for the inaugural Women's Premier League season.

Lanning is currently one of the most experienced cricketers in women's cricket. She has played 127 T20I matches for Australia, scoring 3,252 runs at a strike rate of 116.06. The 30-year-old has registered two centuries in T20I cricket for the Aussies.

She led Australia to the Women's T20 World Cup title in 2014, 2018 and 2020, while she also captained Australia to the Commonwealth Games gold medal and Women's World Cup win last year.

Lanning entered the auction with a base price of ₹50 lakh. Mumbai Indians kicked off the bidding with a bid worth ₹50 lakh. Delhi Capitals joined soon after, and the price shot up to ₹1 crore in no time. DC secured Lanning's services with a bid of ₹1.1 crore.

Meg Lanning will play with Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues in WPL 2023

India v Australia - T20 Series: Game 2 (Image: Getty)

Apart from Lanning, the Delhi Capitals have also signed India's batting stalwarts Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues at the WPL Auction 2023 so far. Verma bagged a contract worth ₹2 crore, while Rodrigues has received the biggest deal from DC so far - ₹2.2 crore.

Delhi Capitals now need to use their funds wisely. They have spent ₹5.3 crore to sign three players. With ₹6.7 crore remaining in their purse, DC now need to sign at least 12 more players to complete their squad.

It will be interesting to see which players join Lanning, Verma and Rodrigues at DC.

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