New Delhi: Team India’s World Cup winners Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues and Shafali Verma are some of the big players retained by the Women’s Premier League (WPL) franchises ahead of the 2026 mega auction.
According to an ESPNcricinfo report, Australia captain Alyssa Healy and Meg Lanning, along with New Zealand allrounder Amelia Kerr, will enter the mega auction after being released by their respective teams. Indian all-rounder Deepti Sharma, who was the Player of the Tournament in the ODI World Cup, has also been released by UP Warriorz.
Defending champions Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals have retained five players each, which are the maximum allowed by WPL. Royal Challengers Bengaluru have retained four, Gujarat Giants have retained two and UP Warriorz have retained one player.
According to WPL retention rules, each franchise can retain a maximum of three capped Indian players, a maximum of two overseas players, and a maximum of two uncapped Indian players. If a franchise wants to retain five players, the rules state that at least one should be an uncapped Indian player. For the first time, WPL has also allowed the franchises to use the right-to-match (RTM) option at the auction to buy back a player who was part of their squad in 2025.
Each franchise has been allotted Rs 15 crore for the auction, which is set to take place in Delhi on November 27. While announcing the rules for the retention, the WPL also listed the guideline prices for the retention slabs: Rs 3.5 crore (Player 1), Rs 2.5 crore (Player 2), Rs 1.75 crore (Player 3), Rs 1 crore (Player 4) and Rs 50 lakh (Player 5).
If a franchise opts to retain five players, Rs 9.25 crore would be deducted from their 15 crore purse, while for four, the amount deduction would be Rs 8.75 crore. Therefore, DC and MI will have Rs 5.75 crore to build their team for the upcoming season, which should have between 16 and 18 players.
UP Warriorz, who have retained only an uncapped player in Shweta Sehrawat, will have the maximum purse of Rs 14.5 crore along with four RTMs. Gujarat Giants will have three RTMs restricted to only Indian players and a purse of Rs 9 crore, while RCB will have one RTM and a purse of Rs 6.25 crore.
List of players retained by WPL franchises
Delhi Capitals: Annabel Sutherland, Marizanne Kapp, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Niki Prasad
Mumbai Indians: Harmanpreet Kaur, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Amanjot Kaur, G Kamalini and Hayley Matthews
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Smriti Mandhana, Ellyse Perry, Richa Ghosh, Shreyanka Patil
Gujarat Giants: Ashleigh Gardner, Beth Mooney
UP Warriorz: Shweta Sehrawat.