Kochi, 28 October: Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) completed their squad at the TATA WPL Auction 2027 on Wednesday, signing four players to add spin, all-round depth and Indian batting.
RCB bought Australian all-rounder Jess Jonassen for INR 40 lakh, South African all-rounder Chloe Tryon for INR 30 lakh, Indian batter Tejal Hasabnis for INR 30 lakh and Indian batter Vrinda Dinesh for INR 10 lakh.
Spin and batting depth
Jonassen gives RCB another spin option, while Tryon adds experience in the middle and lower order. Hasabnis and Dinesh strengthen the pool of Indian batters as the franchise prepares to defend its title.
Head coach Malolan Rangarajan said he had not expected to land Dinesh. “I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect us to land Vrinda, so I’m very happy that we’ve been able to bring a Karnataka-born player into the squad. She has been doing exceptionally well for India A, and as soon as we saw an opportunity to bring her into the team, we made sure we took it across the line,” he said.
On Tryon, Rangarajan said: “She is a very experienced international player who has been playing in franchise leagues and performing well. She adds depth to our batting, with the ability to bat anywhere between No. 4 and No. 7, and is also very handy with her left-arm spin.”
He added that the team had looked for players who already knew the league. “One of the key things for us was identifying experienced players who have already been part of the WPL environment. We now have a very good mix of experienced players and a couple of youngsters who are looking to play for the country.”
Perry’s return and the purse
Rangarajan said Ellyse Perry’s return was a major boost. “Honestly, Perry coming back was huge for us. There was a void in our batting without her, but we have to give a lot of credit to our girls last year, who did well to counter her absence. With her coming back, we have a very, very good player at number three.”
He also explained why RCB let Grace go before the auction. “One big distinction with this auction is the fact that you don’t have an additional purse coming through in every auction. The IPL or the WPL usually have an increment every year. This year, you don’t. One of the reasons behind releasing Grace was that we wanted to manufacture a little bit of purse coming into the auction, and we wanted to be competitive.”
RCB went into the auction with 13 retained players and INR 1.15 crore left in their purse.
RCB squad for WPL 2027
Bought at auction: Jess Jonassen (INR 40 lakh), Chloe Tryon (INR 30 lakh), Tejal Hasabnis (INR 30 lakh), Vrinda Dinesh (INR 10 lakh).
Retained: Smriti Mandhana (captain), Georgia Voll, Nadine de Klerk, Ellyse Perry, Shreyanka Patil, Sayali Satghare, Richa Ghosh, Prathyoosha Kumar, Lauren Bell, Arundhati Reddy, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav and Prema Rawat.
