Hot take: UPW came in with the biggest purse and bought the most players (eight), including Sophie Molineux for INR 1.1 crore (US$120,000 approx.). They have a squad with plenty of top-order players and bowlers, but few middle-order batters. They boast a spin-heavy unit with the addition of offspinner Sneh Rana, leg-spinner Asha Sobhana and left-arm spinners Sahana Pawar and Molineux. Kathryn Bryce was a steal at base price, and gives them the option to field five overseas players in the XI since she is from Scotland, an Associate nation.
Possible best XI: 1 Meg Lanning* (capt), 2 Phoebe Litchfield*, 3 Harleen Deol, 4 Simran Shaikh, 5 Deepti Sharma, 6 Sophie Molineux*, 7 Kathryn Bryce* 8 Sophie Ecclestone*, 9 Sushma Verma (wk), 10 Shikha Pandey, 11 Kranti Gaud
Full squad
Batters: Meg Lanning (capt), Phoebe Litchfield, Simran Shaikh, Pratika Rawal
Wicketkeepers: Sushma Verma, Shipra Giri
Allrounders: Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey, Sophie Molineux, Harleen Deol, Grace Harris, Kathryn Bryce, Sneh Rana
Spinners: Sophie Ecclestone, Asha Sobhana, Sahana Pawar
Fast bowlers: Manali Dakshini, Kranti Gaud
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Sophie Molineux the top buy at WPL 2027 auction
What they said
“[We were going to get Molineux] at any cost. Grace [Harris] brings power to the middle order, Sophie Molineux obviously leadership qualities, an exceptional bowler and fantastic with the team in general. Our thought was her and Sophie Ecclestone together would be a lethal force.”
UPW COO and director of cricket, Kshemal Waingankar