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WPL auction list 2027: 146 players, 27 slots, and why Mumbai Indians can't afford a ₹50 lakh star
The BCCI's WPL auction list for 2027 has 146 players chasing 27 slots in Kochi on 28 October. Only Sophie Molineux and Sophia Dunkley are at the top ₹50 lakh base price. Here's the full price bracket breakdown, every team's purse and slots, released players' old fees against their new base prices, and the purse maths that rules some teams out of the top names.
TL;DRThe short version
- Auction: Wednesday 28 October 2026, Grand Hyatt Kochi, from 5:30 PM IST (PTI via NDTV). The official list dated 19 October has 146 players for 27 slots: 119 Indians for 20 slots and 27 overseas players for 7.
- Only two players are at the top ₹50 lakh base price: Australia captain Sophie Molineux and England batter Sophia Dunkley. G Kamalini, Kiran Navgire, Heather Graham and Jess Jonassen are at ₹40 lakh, 30 players at ₹30 lakh, 4 at ₹20 lakh and 106 at ₹10 lakh (our count from the BCCI PDF).
- UP Warriorz hold ₹3.65 crore of the ₹8.15 crore left across all five teams. By our maths, if Mumbai Indians fill all seven of their slots, the most they can pay any one player is ₹40 lakh, below Molineux's and Dunkley's base price.
- Download the official WPL 2027 auction list (PDF) from the WPL site: wplt20.com: TATA WPL 2027 Auction List (19.10.26)Checked at about 2:45 PM IST on 20 October 2026.
Key facts
- Auction date
- Wednesday 28 October 2026, from 5:30 PM IST
- Venue
- Grand Hyatt Kochi
- Players in the pool
- 146 (119 Indian: 22 capped, 97 uncapped; 27 overseas: 14 capped, 13 uncapped, six from Associate nations)
- Slots to fill
- 27 (20 Indian, 7 overseas)
- Purse left, all teams
- ₹8.15 crore (BCCI retention table)
- Top base price
- ₹50 lakh: Sophie Molineux, Sophia Dunkley
- Biggest purse
- UP Warriorz, ₹3.65 crore for 7 slots (2 overseas)
- Smallest purse
- Mumbai Indians, ₹1 crore for 7 slots (1 overseas)
- WPL 2027 season
- 14 January to 7 February 2027
Short answer: the WPL auction list for the 2027 season is out. The BCCI's official list, dated 19 October, names 146 players for 27 open slots, and the auction runs on Wednesday 28 October 2026 at the Grand Hyatt Kochi from 5:30 PM IST. It's a mini auction: the five teams kept 63 players at retention and have only ₹8.15 crore between them to fill the gaps.
Who's at which base price
We counted every row in the BCCI's PDF. The brackets line up with what ESPNcricinfo and PTI reported (2 at ₹50 lakh, 4 at ₹40 lakh, 30 at ₹30 lakh):
| Base price | Players | Who (top brackets) |
|---|---|---|
| ₹50 lakh | 2 | Sophie Molineux (Australia), Sophia Dunkley (England) |
| ₹40 lakh | 4 | G Kamalini, Kiran Navgire, Heather Graham (Australia), Jess Jonassen (Australia) |
| ₹30 lakh | 30 | Includes Chamari Athapaththu, Grace Harris, Sneh Rana, Asha Sobhana, Taniyaa Bhatia, Saika Ishaque, Titas Sadhu, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Chloe Tryon, Tayla Vlaeminck, Orla Prendergast, Rosemary Mair |
| ₹20 lakh | 4 | Yashasri S, Tanisha Ohlan, Yashasvi Katta, Triveni Vashistha |
| ₹10 lakh | 106 | Mostly uncapped Indians, plus Associate players such as Netherlands captain Babette de Leede |
Who's missing: Deandra Dottin (released by UP Warriorz), Alana King and Lizelle Lee (released by Delhi Capitals) haven't registered, ESPNcricinfo reports. Only two English players entered: Dunkley and Kira Chathli (₹10 lakh). Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Alice Capsey and others are skipping the season, with an England tour of Sri Lanka in early February expected to clash with the WPL's last week.
Each team's purse and slots
From the BCCI's retention table:
| Team | Purse left | Slots | Overseas slots | Most it can pay one player if it fills every slot* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UP Warriorz | ₹3.65 crore | 7 | 2 | ₹3.05 crore |
| Gujarat Giants | ₹1.25 crore | 3 | 1 | ₹1.05 crore |
| Royal Challengers Bengaluru | ₹1.15 crore | 5 | 2 | ₹75 lakh |
| Delhi Capitals | ₹1.10 crore | 5 | 1 | ₹70 lakh |
| Mumbai Indians | ₹1.00 crore | 7 | 1 | ₹40 lakh |
*Our calculation: purse left minus ₹10 lakh (the lowest base price on the list) for every other open slot. It's a ceiling, not a prediction. A team can leave slots empty, and the BCCI's PDF doesn't restate the minimum squad size, so treat this as the upper limit if a team wants a full 18.
What the numbers say
Mumbai Indians are priced out of the two big names if they want a full squad. With ₹1 crore and seven slots, buying Molineux or Dunkley at base price (₹50 lakh) leaves ₹50 lakh for six players, which is below the ₹60 lakh that six ₹10 lakh picks would cost. MI would have to leave a slot empty to bid for either.
UP Warriorz are the auction. They hold 45% of all the money left (₹3.65 crore of ₹8.15 crore) and two of the seven overseas slots. They are the only team that can chase both ₹50 lakh players and still fill five more spots comfortably. Expect them to set the price on Molineux, who won the 2024 title with RCB and took 12 wickets in ten games that season (ESPNcricinfo), before a knee injury ruled her out of 2025.
Seven overseas slots for 27 overseas players means most of the foreign pool goes unsold. RCB and UPW have two overseas slots each; DC, GG and MI one each.
Released players are back cheaper. Compare what teams paid them (the released list shows each player's fee, which comes off the purse) with what they've now asked for:
| Player | Released by | Old fee | New base price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asha Sobhana | UP Warriorz | ₹1.10 crore | ₹30 lakh |
| Grace Harris | RCB | ₹75 lakh | ₹30 lakh |
| Kiran Navgire | UP Warriorz | ₹60 lakh | ₹40 lakh |
| G Kamalini | Mumbai Indians | ₹50 lakh | ₹40 lakh |
| Sneh Rana | Delhi Capitals | ₹50 lakh | ₹30 lakh |
| Chloe Tryon | UP Warriorz | ₹30 lakh | ₹30 lakh |
Our read: Kamalini is the Indian name to watch. She's 18, in India's current T20I squad against Zimbabwe (IANS), and asked for ₹40 lakh, so a team that wants a long-term wicketkeeper-batter may pay well above her old ₹50 lakh fee. MI released her, but with ₹1 crore for seven slots they can't do much to win her back.
When and where
The auction is on Wednesday 28 October at the Grand Hyatt Kochi, starting at 5:30 PM IST (PTI). The 2027 season runs from 14 January to 7 February. Venues haven't been announced. It leads straight into the Women's Champions Trophy, which starts on 14 February in Mumbai and Vadodara.
16 Sep 2026
BCCI announces WPL 2027 dates (14 Jan to 7 Feb 2027), a 28 Sep retention deadline and the 28 Oct auction in Kochi.
28 Sep 2026
Retention closes: 63 players kept (23 overseas), 27 slots and ₹8.15 crore left.
19 Oct 2026
BCCI publishes the 146-player auction list.
28 Oct 2026
Auction at the Grand Hyatt Kochi, from 5:30 PM IST.
14 Jan 2027
WPL 2027 begins; the final is on 7 February.
Trend Monitor
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Google Trends, India, rising queries, 30 days