WPL Retentions: Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma among big names retained; Meg Lanning, Deepti Sharma released ahead of mega auction

NEW DELHI: India’s ODI World Cup-winning heroes Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues and Shafali Verma headline the Women’s Premier League (WPL) retention list unveiled on Thursday, setting the stage for a high-stakes mega auction later this month.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!All five WPL franchises revealed their retained players — with a maximum limit of three Indian capped players, two overseas stars, and two Indian uncapped names per team.Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals have retained the maximum five players permitted under the rules. Harmanpreet will continue to lead Mumbai Indians alongside Hayley Matthews, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Amanjot Kaur and young G Kamalini.

The franchise released key performers like Amelia Kerr, Pooja Vastrakar and Yastika Bhatia into the auction pool.Delhi Capitals made a bold call by letting go of skipper Meg Lanning despite three consecutive final appearances. Instead, they retained Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Annabel Sutherland, Marizanne Kapp, and uncapped Niki Prasad.Royal Challengers Bengaluru kept faith in their core, holding on to Smriti Mandhana, Ellyse Perry, Shreyanka Patil and Richa Ghosh.

Meanwhile, the likes of Sophie Molineux, Renuka Singh Thakur, Sneh Rana and Danni Wyatt-Hodge have been released.UP Warriorz pressed the reset button by retaining just one player — Shweta Sehrawat, the Under-19 World Cup-winning batter — letting go of marquee stars Alyssa Healy, Deepti Sharma and Sophie Ecclestone. Deepti’s release, in particular, is one of the biggest shocks of the retention window, given her stellar form and back-to-back Player of the Tournament awards in both the 2024 WPL and the 2025 World Cup.Gujarat Giants have opted to retain the Australian duo of Ashleigh Gardner and Beth Mooney while releasing South Africa’s ODI World Cup top-scorer Laura Wolvaardt, Harleen Deol, and Kashvee Gautam.With RCB, Gujarat Giants, and UP Warriorz retaining fewer than five players, they will be the only sides eligible to use the Right to Match card at the WPL mega auction scheduled for November 27 in New Delhi.List of retained players