Even as she admitted the concept of auctions was “weird”, Australian star Ellyse Perry said it was “pretty cool” to be picked by the Royal Challengers Bangalore side in the Women’s Premier League auctions. She went on to reveal that she has always had a “soft spot” in her heart for RCB since she was in the stadium to watch the first game of the men’s team live in the stadium.
She was picked up by RCB for Rs 1.7 crore earlier this week. 13 of her Australian compatriots were also picked in the WPL auctions. Many of those, like Perry, are currently in South Africa competing in the ICC T20 World Cup.
“A big hello and a big thank you for the opportunity to play with RCB in the first ever WPL,” Perry told RCB’s website in a video shot after the auctions. “I’m so excited for this tournament and everything it means for the women’s game. It is kind of really cool because the twist of fate was that I was actually at the first-ever RCB game for men many years ago. Since then, RCB has always had a bit of a soft spot in my heart. I suppose it was this twist of fate and now being part of the first-ever women’s team is super cool.”
She also said that the WPL meant more than about the money for them: it was about the growth of the women’s game.
🗣️ The GOAT sent us a video 🥺
Ellyse Perry is thrilled to join the rest of the Royal Challengers for the WPL. 🤩
WE CANNOT WAIT! 😃😍 #PlayBold #WeAreChallengers #WPL2023 @EllysePerry pic.twitter.com/IlHv8oTbam
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) February 14, 2023
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“From my perspective, I don’t think any of us ever led the conversation in terms of monetary value,” she was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo. “I think there’s something at play that’s much bigger than that. Of course, remuneration and the chance to earn that kind of money is wonderful, but much larger than that I think is just the general growth of the sport right around the world.”
She also lauded India as the spiritual home of cricket in a lot of senses.
“I think now that women are starting to have a really strong presence in the Indian market and also in the Indian game, that is so much more important than any kind of dollar value that is placed on any player. So from that perspective, the chat was just around wanting to be involved,” she said. “Of course, after the auction, those discussions come in about certain value and how much people are sold for, which in itself is a weird kind of concept to swallow. But yeah, I just think it’s so much bigger than that.”