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What Is Played It, Priced It?
Every Thursday I take one big sports story and look at it twice. Played It is what it means on the pitch, for the players, the coaches and the fans. Priced It is what the money really says. Then I give you my call. I've been a professional cricketer and I've worked in finance, so I've sat on both sides of the table.
The Short Version
What happened. India's women's cricket league, the WPL, held a small top-up auction in Kochi on Wednesday. Five teams had ₹8.15 crore (about US$860,000) in total to fill 27 places.
Why it matters. The men's league, the IPL, held the same kind of top-up auction last December with ₹237.55 crore (about US$25m). That is 29 times more money.
The outcome. Australia captain Sophie Molineux was the most expensive woman, at about US$116,000. The most expensive man, Cameron Green, went for about US$2.65m.
The men's top-up auction had 29 times more to spend than the women's
What Happened in Kochi
Quick bit of background. India has two big franchise cricket leagues. The Indian Premier League (IPL) is the men's one. The Women's Premier League (WPL) is the women's one, and it started in 2023.
Both leagues use auctions to buy players. Every few years there is a big "mega" auction where squads are rebuilt from scratch. In between, there are small top-up auctions, which cricket calls mini auctions, where teams keep most of their players and just fill the gaps. The WPL held its first mega auction before the 2026 season, so this week's event was a top-up.
So, to answer the obvious question, this was not the whole women's league being bought. Teams had already kept 63 players. Wednesday was about 146 players chasing the last 27 places, 20 for Indian players and seven for overseas players, with ₹8.15 crore (about US$860,000) left across all five teams. That is the key point. Most of the women's money had already gone before anyone sat down in Kochi. Each team has ₹15 crore for its whole squad, so the five teams have ₹75 crore (about US$7.9m) between them. Keeping their core players had already used ₹66.85 crore (about US$7.0m), or 89% of it (Sports Edge calculations from Business Standard). The core includes India's captain Harmanpreet Kaur at Mumbai Indians, Smriti Mandhana and Ellyse Perry at Royal Challengers Bengaluru, and Meg Lanning and Deepti Sharma at UP Warriorz. Wednesday was the leftovers.
UP Warriorz had the most, ₹3.75 crore (about US$394,000) for eight places. Mumbai Indians had the least, ₹90 lakh (about US$95,000).
Sophie Molineux went to UP Warriorz for ₹1.10 crore (about US$116,000) after Royal Challengers Bengaluru dropped out at ₹1.05 crore (about US$110,000). Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu and England batter Sophia Dunkley went unsold. Ireland's Orla Prendergast became the first Irish player picked in WPL history, for ₹30 lakh (about US$32,000). Twenty-five of the 27 places were filled, in less than an hour of active bidding, and the teams spent ₹6.25 crore (about US$656,000) of the ₹8.15 crore available (Sports Edge calculation from ESPNcricinfo's list of prices).
The season runs from 14 January to 7 February 2027.
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Who Got Bought
All 25 signings by team. Source ESPNcricinfo. Graphic by Sports Edge Insight.
The 63 players the teams kept before the auction, and what it cost. Source Business Standard. Graphic by Sports Edge Insight.
The most expensive signings at the WPL top-up auction. Source ESPNcricinfo. Graphic by Sports Edge Insight.
UP Warriorz bought the most, eight players for ₹2.60 crore (about US$273,000).
Gujarat Giants bought the fewest, three players for ₹80 lakh (about US$84,000).
Thirteen of the 25 went for ₹10 lakh, about US$10,500 each (Sports Edge calculations).
Played It: What It Means for the Players
When I look at this as a player, the first thing I notice is that it was sensible. A top-up auction is not meant to be glamorous. You keep your best players and fill your holes, and the coaches said exactly that.
"Today was about trying to add to the group, whether that's in the starting XI potentially, or if not, providing different options and coverage through the tournament."
Mumbai bought six uncapped players as cover. Not exciting, but that is how squads actually get through a tournament.
UP Warriorz did the opposite and went all in on one name. Their director of cricket, Kshemal Waingankar, said they were going to get Molineux "at any cost", adding that "her and Sophie Ecclestone together would be a lethal force". I get it. She led Australia to the T20 World Cup in July. But she missed the 2025 WPL with a knee injury and pulled out of the 2026 season, so "at any cost" also means "fingers crossed".
Some big names were missing. ESPNcricinfo reports that only two English players entered the auction, Sophia Dunkley and Kira Chathli, and that most of the others chose to prioritise England's T20 series in Sri Lanka, which runs from 1 to 5 February, the same week as the end of the WPL. Dunkley and Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu both entered and went unsold.
The happy story is Scotland. Captain Kathryn Bryce went to UP Warriorz and Kirstie Gordon to Delhi Capitals, both for ₹10 lakh (about US$10,500). Because Scotland is not a Test nation, teams can play them as an extra fifth overseas player. Cheap, clever, and a real door opening for players outside the big cricket countries.
I have coached in Hong Kong, and this is the part of Wednesday I'd want every Hong Kong player to read. A Hong Kong player could qualify for the same extra overseas place that Bryce and Gordon just used. The gap is still real. When Hong Kong played India at the Asia Cup in September, their first Asia Cup in 14 years, they lost by 137 runs. Captain Natasha Miles says some of the squad are on partial contracts because they also work outside cricket. The door is open. Getting a Hong Kong player through it is the next job.
Priced It: What the Money Says
Now the money, and I want to compare like with like, because the headline number is not quite a fair fight.
Fair comparison one, the two top-up auctions. In December, the 10 men's teams had ₹237.55 crore (about US$25m) to fill 77 places. On Wednesday, the five women's teams had ₹8.15 crore (about US$860,000) to fill 27. That is 29 times more money for the men. Even per place, the men had about ten times more to spend, roughly US$324,000 a place against US$32,000 (Sports Edge calculations).
Fair comparison two, the full squad budgets. Each men's team can spend up to ₹125 crore (about US$13.1m) on its whole squad. Each women's team can spend ₹15 crore (about US$1.6m). The men's budget is about eight times bigger.
The unfair but unforgettable comparison, the top buys. Kolkata Knight Riders bid ₹25.20 crore (about US$2.65m) for Cameron Green. That one bid is three times the entire women's top-up pot. Green himself is paid ₹18 crore (about US$1.9m), because overseas players in men's top-up auctions are capped, and the other ₹7.20 crore goes to a BCCI player welfare fund. Even after the cap, he earns about 16 times what Molineux will (Sports Edge calculation).
So where is the money in the women's game? Not with the players. The five WPL teams were sold in 2023 for a combined ₹4,669.99 crore (about US$490m), with Adani's Gujarat Giants the most expensive at ₹1,289 crore (about US$135m). Viacom18 paid ₹951 crore (about US$100m) for the TV rights from 2023 to 2027, which works out at ₹7.09 crore (about US$745,000) a match.
Read that last number again. The broadcaster pays almost as much for one match as all five teams had to spend on Wednesday (Sports Edge calculation, 87%).
And here is the bit that matters most. That TV deal covers 2023 to 2027 (WPL). The 2027 season is its last. The next deal is what decides whether the women's budgets grow.
My Call
As a player, I would have been happy with Wednesday. Teams kept their best players, filled their gaps and paid properly for the one proven star on offer.
As someone who has worked in finance, I would ask the obvious question. Why is a league whose teams sold for US$490m only letting each team spend US$1.6m on players? That is the BCCI's cap, not the market. The owners would clearly pay more. Molineux's bidding war proved that.
So here is my honest view. Better cricket will not fix women's pay. The next TV deal will, but only if the BCCI shares it with the players and raises the cap. If it doesn't, the WPL will struggle to be every player's first choice.
What Happens Next?
14 January 2027: WPL 2027 starts, running to 7 February.
1, 3 and 5 February 2027: England play three T20 matches against Sri Lanka in Kandy, during the WPL's final week.
After the 2027 season: the WPL's current TV deal ends. No sale of the next one has been announced.
"I've been in the game a long time and i've watched the gap slowly close. So it's hard to see one man's IPL bid worth three times a whole women's auction. It’s not really a cricket story, it's a priorities story."
