WPL confirms mega auction date; Deepti, Wolvaardt, Healy, Lanning headline player pool

NEW DELHI: The Women’s Premier League (WPL) mega auction for the next season will be held in New Delhi on November 27. The date was announced after all five teams released their retained and released players earlier this month.WPL marked the 10-day countdown on its official X handle, posting: “10 Days to Go The countdown to #TATAWPL Mega Auction has begun. Catch the WPL auction 2026 on November 27."Each team can build a squad of up to 18 players. Across all franchises, 73 slots — including 23 overseas slots — need to be filled.UP Warriorz will enter the auction with the highest purse. They have four right-to-match (RTM) options and have retained only one uncapped player, Shweta Sehrawat.Mumbai Indians, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, and Delhi Capitals, who have finished runners-up three times, have retained the maximum allowed five players each. Both teams have no RTM options left. Delhi Capitals also retained Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues, who played key roles in India’s ICC Women’s World Cup title run with important knocks in the knockout matches.Over the first three seasons, the WPL has seen high-value signings.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain Smriti Mandhana remains the most expensive player in the tournament, bought for Rs 3.4 crore ahead of the inaugural edition. She led RCB to the 2024 title and is among the four players retained by the team, along with Richa Ghosh, Ellyse Perry and Shreyanka Patil.In all, 17 players have been retained across franchises, including seven overseas players. The teams together will have Rs 41.1 crore available to spend at the auction.Several well-known players are expected to be in the auction pool, including 2025 Women’s World Cup Player of the Tournament Deepti Sharma; South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt, who scored 571 runs in the tournament with two hundreds in the semifinal and final and three fifties; Australia’s Alyssa Healy and Meg Lanning; New Zealand’s Amelia Kerr; and South Africa’s Nadine de Klerk.WPL will release the full auction list soon.