Five WPL Franchises Have ₹8.15 Crore for 27 Slots at Kochi Auction on 28 October

The Women's Premier League (WPL), the franchise cricket league launched by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), holds its player auction for the 2027 season on Wednesday, 28 October 2026. The auction takes place in Kochi, Kerala, ahead of a fifth season set for 14 January to 7 February 2027.

Five franchises enter the auction with ₹8.15 crore left to spend between them, 27 open squad slots and a pool of 146 registered players.

When and Where the 2027 Auction and Season Take Place

The BCCI announced the WPL 2027 schedule on 16 September 2026. The season runs from 14 January to 7 February 2027, and the BCCI has not disclosed the host cities for the matches.

The auction begins at 5:30 pm IST on 28 October. Mykhel names the Grand Hyatt Kochi as the venue, while Business Today gives only the city, Kochi, Kerala.

The retention window closed earlier, on 28 September 2026. That leaves the auction as the stage at which the remaining squad places are filled. The season opens on 14 January 2027, about 11 weeks after the auction.

Retentions Leave 27 Open Slots

Franchises could keep players from their existing squads as they set up their teams for the new season, up to the retention deadline of 28 September 2026. In all, 63 players were retained, and 23 of them are overseas players, Asianet Newsable reported on the day of the deadline.

Delhi Capitals kept 13 players, five of them overseas. Gujarat Giants kept 15, with five overseas. Mumbai Indians kept 11, also with five overseas. Royal Challengers Bengaluru kept 13, four of them overseas, and UP Warriorz kept 11, four overseas.

The open places that remain total 27: 20 for Indian players and seven for overseas players. Overseas players make up 23 of the 63 retained, about 37 per cent, but only seven of the 27 open places, about 26 per cent.

Mumbai Indians have retained five overseas players. Business Today and Khel Now show no overseas slot open for them, while Asianet Newsable shows one. Each of the other four franchises has at least one overseas place still to fill.

Gujarat Giants kept the most players, 15, and have the fewest open slots, three. Their open places are two Indian and one overseas.

The total squad size each franchise can reach is not stated in these figures, so the open slots show only the places left after retentions.

Remaining Purses and Open Slots by Franchise

UP Warriorz enter with the largest remaining purse and the most open slots. Business Today and Khel Now give ₹3.75 crore for eight slots, five for Indian players and three for overseas players. Asianet Newsable gives ₹3.65 crore for seven slots, two of them overseas.

Gujarat Giants have ₹1.25 crore for three slots, two Indian and one overseas. Royal Challengers Bengaluru have ₹1.15 crore for five slots, three Indian and two overseas.

Delhi Capitals have ₹1.10 crore for five slots, four Indian and one overseas. Mumbai Indians have the smallest purse, ₹90 lakh, for six open slots, all for Indian players, according to Business Today and Khel Now. Asianet Newsable gives ₹1 crore for seven slots, one of them overseas.

Added together, the five purses come to ₹8.15 crore, and the open slots come to 27. Spread evenly, that is about ₹30 lakh a slot, a simple division of the totals rather than a reported figure.

Dividing each purse by its own open slots, on the Business Today and Khel Now figures, gives a different picture. UP Warriorz work out at about ₹46.9 lakh a slot and Gujarat Giants at about ₹41.7 lakh. Royal Challengers Bengaluru come to ₹23 lakh, Delhi Capitals to ₹22 lakh and Mumbai Indians to ₹15 lakh. These averages do not show how bidding will divide each purse among the places left.

The purse is the amount each franchise has left to spend. On the Business Today and Khel Now figures, Mumbai Indians' ₹90 lakh is nine times the ₹10 lakh base price carried by 106 players, and UP Warriorz's ₹3.75 crore is 37.5 times that base price.

On the Business Today and Khel Now figures, Mumbai Indians' ₹90 lakh is nine times the ₹10 lakh base price carried by 106 players.

Base Prices Across the 146 Registered Players

The pool has 146 registered players, 119 from India and 27 from overseas. Most are listed at the ₹10 lakh base price, which 106 players carry, or about 73 per cent of the pool.

Thirty players are at ₹30 lakh and four at ₹20 lakh. Four players are at ₹40 lakh: G. Kamalini, Kiran Navgire, Heather Graham and Jess Jonassen.

The top bracket is ₹50 lakh, with Sophia Dunkley and Sophie Molineux listed there. Together their base prices come to ₹1 crore, which is more than the ₹90 lakh remaining purse of Mumbai Indians in Business Today and Khel Now.

The bracket counts add up to the full pool: two at ₹50 lakh, four at ₹40 lakh, 30 at ₹30 lakh, four at ₹20 lakh and 106 at ₹10 lakh.

What Is Set and What Has Not Been Announced

The details that are fixed for now are the season dates, the auction date and start time, and the open-slot and purse totals.

The BCCI has not named host cities for the matches. The outcome of the auction is not yet known, so which of the 27 open places are filled, and at what price, will only be known once the auction is held on 28 October.

The purse and slot figures above are the starting position. By the end of the auction, franchises may have spent part of their purses and filled some of their open places, and that result is expected to shape each squad for the season, which opens on 14 January 2027.