WPL most expensive players: Top 5 highest bids in Women's Premier League auction
· Yahoo Sports
The Women's Premier League returns to the auction table on Wednesday, with the five franchises gathering in Kochi to fill out their squads for the 2027 season.
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This is a mini auction, so the scale is smaller than last year's rebuild. A total of 146 players have been shortlisted for 27 available slots, seven of which are reserved for overseas cricketers, and the five teams have a combined ₹8.15 crore left to spend.
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UP Warriorz go in with by far the deepest pockets, holding ₹3.75 crore of that total, which gives them room to chase a marquee name that nobody else can realistically match.
With most squads largely settled, the bidding is likely to be concentrated on a handful of players rather than spread across the room.
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WPL most expensive players
No bid in the league's history has yet passed the mark set in the very first auction in 2023, when the five franchises were building from nothing and the money went almost entirely on the biggest names available.
PosPlayerCountryTeamPrice Year1Smriti MandhanaIndiaRoyal Challengers Bengaluru₹3.4 crore20232Ashleigh GardnerAustraliaGujarat Giants₹3.2 crore20232Nat Sciver-BruntEnglandMumbai Indians₹3.2 crore20232Deepti SharmaIndiaUP Warriorz₹3.2 crore20265Amelia KerrNew ZealandMumbai Indians₹3 crore2026Mandhana's ₹3.40 crore has stood since she became the first player sold at the inaugural auction, and three players have since matched the ₹3.20 crore mark without going past her.
Gardner and Sciver-Brunt remain the most expensive overseas buys in the league's history.
Deepti Sharma's entry on the list came through the right-to-match card at the 2026 mega auction, with UP Warriorz using it to take her back from Delhi Capitals. Amelia Kerr's ₹3 crore to Mumbai Indians at the same auction is the only other bid to have reached the three-crore mark.
One distinction worth noting is that Mandhana, Gardner and Sciver-Brunt were each retained for ₹3.50 crore ahead of WPL 2026, which is a higher figure than any of them fetched at auction.
Those are retention fees rather than bids, so the auction record still belongs to Mandhana.
WPL 2027 auction highest bids
PosPlayerCountryTeamPrice1Sophie MolineuxAustraliaUP Warriorz₹1.1 crore2Kiran NavgireIndiaDelhi Capitals₹0.75 crore3Jess JonassenAustraliaRCB₹0.4 crore3G KamaliniIndiaGujarat Giants₹0.4 croreWPL most expensive Indian players
Indian players have taken the top spot in the league from the start, and the gap between the leading two and the rest has widened with each cycle.
PosPlayerTeamPriceYear1Smriti MandhanaRoyal Challengers Bengaluru₹3.40 crore20232Deepti SharmaUP Warriorz₹3.20 crore20263Shikha PandeyUP Warriorz₹2.40 crore20264Jemimah RodriguesDelhi Capitals₹2.20 crore20235Shafali VermaDelhi Capitals₹2.00 crore2023Deepti Sharma has appeared twice in the league's biggest buys, having first gone to UP Warriorz for ₹2.60 crore in 2023 before returning to them at ₹3.20 crore three years later.
That 2023 figure made her the most expensive Indian all-rounder in the competition at the time.
How to watch the WPL 2027 auction
Here's how to follow the WPL 2027 auction in India:
- TV channel: Star Sports Network
- Live stream: JioHotstar
The auction will be televised live on the Star Sports Network in India, with streaming available through the JioHotstar app and website.
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