Sophie Molineux the top buy at WPL 2027 auction

UPW also added India allrounder Sneh Rana, Australia allrounder Grace Harris and wicketkeeper-batter Sushma Verma at their base prices of INR 30 lakh. It will be Rana's fourth team in the WPL, after playing for RCB, GG and DC in the first four seasons.

"[The UP Warriorz spin attack] is very strong," Rana told Jiostar. "And Deepti Sharma will be with me, with whom I have been playing for a long time. So I know their strengths, so we will keep talking to each other. And it's going to be a lot of fun. I am very excited [to play under Meg Lanning]. I have always seen her on TV. And even now when she leads UP, it looks very good. Seeing her captaincy, seeing her changes, it looks very good. So I am very excited to play under her."

UPW, who started the auction with the largest purse of INR 3.75 crore, had to stave off competition for Molineux from her former team Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who dropped out of the bid at INR 1.05 crore. RCB headed into the auction with a purse of INR 1.15 crore. Molineux, who led Australia to their seventh T20 World Cup title in July, is also their highest wicket-taker this year.

England batter Sophia Dunkley, who had listed herself at the highest base price of INR 50 lakh, went unsold and so did Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu who had a base price of INR 30 lakh.

After the first six sets of players, defending champions RCB were yet to buy a player at the auction. MI, meanwhile, bought uncapped middle-order batter Disha Kasat for INR 10 lakh. All capped fast bowlers and spinners were gone unsold in the first round.

Players bought so far:

Delhi Capitals: Kiran Navgire (INR 75 lakh)
Gujarat Giants: G Kamalini (INR 40 lakh), Orla Prendergast (INR 30 lakh)
Mumbai Indians: Disha Kasat (INR 10 lakh)
UP Warriorz: Sophie Molineux (INR 1.10 crore), Sneh Rana (INR 30 lakh), Grace Harris (INR 30 lakh), Sushma Verma (INR 30 lakh)