WPL Auction 2026 highlights: Auction ends on a high note, UPW acquire Pratika Rawal for 50 lakhs

Led DC to three finals. In great form in the ongoing WBBL. Will she find takers? Asking price: 50 lakh. And DC raise the paddle, UP Warriorz come in. And there’s quickly a tussle between the two. The price tag crosses 1 crore and is with Delhi Capitals The current big is for INR 1.9 crore is with UP Warriorz. A near 100% raise from her previous winning bid.

RCB and DC in a tug-of-war for Sophie Ecclestone. UP Warriorz sit still, watching the fun unfold. Remember they’ll have an RTM card if they want. DC have the bid at INR 85 lakh, looks like they’ve got her for an absolute steal. But hey, for the second time, UP Warriorz have said they’ll RTM. The ball is now in DC’s court to make an offer. They’ll stick to 85 lakh, UP Warriorz are all too happy to get her back.

Part of two championship winning Mumbai Indians squads. UP Warriorz and MI tussling for her as her bid quickly zooms to 90 lakh.

She quickly breaches the 1.7 crore mark as both teams go toe-to-toe.

Melie Kerr was signed for INR 1 crore in WPL 2023. Her current bid with MI is for INR 3 crore.

Player of the tournament at the World Cup earlier this month. Led UP Warriorz in Alyssa Healy’s absence in WPL 2025. Will they raise the paddle for her? Bids start at INR 50 lakh. Delhi Capitals make the opening bid. And that’s the closing bid. Oh, no. Wait. Warriorz have used the RTM! The ball is in DC’s court: will they up their bid? Yes, DC up it to 3.2 crore. Warriorz released her for a reason, but they’ve got her back by matching that bid via RTM.

Gujarat Giants open the bidding for Sophie Devine at Rs 50 lakh. RCB, her current team, come in at 55. And there’s a back-and-forth between the two. The bid zooms to Rs 75 lakh. DC jumped in later with 1.50 Cr. Sophie’s slot saw a live bidding war between Gujarat and DC, which saw Gujarat acquire the player for a bid of Rs 2 crore.

First up is Alyssa Healy. She was bought for INR 70 lakh by UP Warriorz in 2023. She has struggled with fitness issues since last year’s T20 WC, but pedigree unquestionable. Had an excellent World Cup with the bat; not so much with the gloves. Has struggled for rhythm in the ongoing WBBL. Opening bid: INR 50 lakh. But no one raises the paddle. Goes unsold for the moment.

Parth Jindal & Sourav Ganguly sit steady at the DC Table. Harmanpreet Kaur at the MI table, alongside Jhulan Goswami, new coach Lisa Keightley, Nita Ambani & Akash Ambani. New UP Warriorz coach Abhishek Nayar has a studious look as he sits alongside Lisa Sthalekar on the table for UP warriorz.

The biggest names from ICC 2025 Women’s World Cup will kick off the WPL 2026 Mega auction as a part of their Marquee set. The players have been named below.

Sophie Devine

Sophie Ecclestone

Meg Lanning

Deepti Sharma

Amelia Kerr

Alyssa Healy

Renuka Singh

Laura Wolvaardt

Teams finalised their retentions earlier this month and here’s how the squads look right now:

Delhi Capitals (DC): Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Annabel Sutherland, Marizanne Kapp, Niki Prasad

Gujarat Giants (GG): Ashleigh Gardner, Beth Mooney

Mumbai Indians (MI): Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur, Hayley Matthews, Amanjot Kaur, G Kamalini

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB): Smriti Mandhana, Richa Ghosh, Shreyanka Patil, Ellyse Perry

UP Warriorz (UPW): Shweta Sehrawat

With India’s national setup undergoing its own transitions, franchises are eyeing young domestic players with multi-role potential. Consistency in domestic T20 leagues and emerging high-impact performers from inter-zonal tournaments have made uncapped Indians a major storyline this year. Expect bidding wars for pace-bowling all-rounders and top-order hitters who showcased strike rates above 140, a metric franchises increasingly prioritise. Indian talent also brings roster stability in a season projected to have increased player rotation.

The auction pool includes 277 players, with 194 from India and 83 from overseas. There are 73 available slots across the five franchises, with 23 for overseas players.

The auction will kick off with a marquee set of eight star players, including World Cup 2025 Player of the Tournament Deepti Sharma, Renuka Singh, Meg Lanning, and Alyssa Healy.

Delhi Capitals (13 slots available): Rs 5.70 crore

Gujarat Giants (16 slots available): Rs 9 crore

Mumbai Indians (13 slots available): Rs 5.75 crore

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (14 slots available) Rs 6.15 crore

UP Warriorz (17 slots available): Rs 14.50 crore

UP Warriorz come into the auction with a blank canvas and the biggest purse of Rs 14.50 crore. Wooden spoon finish last season has pushed them into reset mode and they’ll be eyeing several marquee names to rebuild their core from the top.

Batting inconsistencies and a misfiring bowling group cost them dearly, so experience, especially among Indian players, will be a prized commodity. With the captaincy seat also vacant, UPW could swing for a proven leader who can shape a fresh identity on the field.

With only two players retained, Gujarat Giants are practically starting from scratch and that means a chance to fix last season’s glaring gaps. Expect them to go all-in on strengthening the lower order and building a more threatening bowling unit, two areas that cost them momentum repeatedly.

A few battle-tested Indian batters are also high on their checklist, giving them the stability they lacked in tight games.

Possible targets for the franchise may be Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Nadine de Klerk, N Sree Charani, Kim Garth and Renuka Singh.

Delhi Capitals are in the hunt for a new tone-setter at the top. With Shafali Verma locked in to swing hard from ball one, they need a solid opening partner, someone who can anchor when required and lead when the game demands. With Annabel Sutherland and Marizanne Kapp already handling the pace-allrounder duties, DC are expected to double down on spin power and add experience behind the stumps.

And with Meg Lanning released, Delhi suddenly have a leadership question too. That’s where someone like Alyssa Healy or Laura Wolvaardt becomes doubly valuable in the form of an elite opener and ready-made captaincy option in one package.

The franchise may target players like Laura Wolvaardt, Alyssa Healy, Yastika Bhatia, Radha Yadav, Sneh Rana, Phoebe Litchfield and N Shree Charani in the auction.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru will enter the auction with one clear mission – to find a smashing opening partner for skipper Smriti Mandhana to set the tone up top. Alongside that, a serious upgrade in the pace department is expected to be front and centre, with an experienced seamer seen as non-negotiable if RCB want to fix their death-overs woes.

With a solid young core already in place, a couple of world-class bowling picks could be the difference between promise and podium this season.

The franchise may look to bid for Laura Wolvaardt, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Renuka Singh, Lauren Bell, Nonkululeko Mlaba and Sophie Ecclestone.

Mumbai Indians already look stacked in the batting department and when you add all-round powerhouses like Hayley Matthews, Nat Sciver-Brunt and Amanjot Kaur, the core is as intimidating as ever. They also have young wicketkeeper Kamalini waiting in the wings but an experienced wicketkeeper will still be high on their wish list to strengthen depth.

Where they’ll hunt aggressively is in the bowling market. A specialist pacer or two and a proven Indian spinner to round out a title-ready attack. Expect MI to have their eyes locked on premium names like Amelia Kerr, Kim Garth, Kranti Gaud, N Shree Charani, Ayabonga Khaka and Saika Ishaque.

Mamatha Madiwala (Base Price: Rs 10 lakh)

If WPL teams are searching for a wicketkeeper-batter who can hold her nerve under pressure, Mamatha Madiwala’s name will already be circled. The Hyderabad talent made a statement on her India A debut with a calm, commanding 56 off 60 balls*. Madiwala’s innings guided her side to a four-wicket victory over New Zealand in a 2025 World Cup warm-up clash in Bengaluru. Six fours and a cleanly struck maximum showcased not just technique, but intent.

While Shafali Verma’s 49-ball 70 grabbed the early headlines, it was Mamatha who finished the job. Already experienced on the big stage after representing India at the 2023 Women’s Emerging Teams Asia Cup in Hong Kong, she now arrives at the auction as a lower-order stabiliser with a keeper’s glove.

Former India captain Anjum Chopra stressed that all-rounder Deepti Sharma’s versatility makes her one of the most valuable picks in this year’s auction, saying, “Gujarat Giants should definitely consider Deepti Sharma in the mega-auction. Delhi Capitals might also target her as an Indian player who strengthens both batting and bowling. UP Warriorz could be the third team interested after Gujarat and Delhi in acquiring her services.”

She also expressed surprise over the Gujarat Giants’ decision to release batter Harleen Deol, who has been a consistent performer for the franchise.

“I am surprised Gujarat Giants released Harleen Deol. She’s a multi-talented Indian player who can also bowl a bit, and I hope she develops her bowling skills further. She’ll command good interest in the auction. Along with Deepti Sharma, she’ll be one Indian player every franchise will target because teams want strong Indian batters and potential leadership options,” Chopra added.

– via IANS

Auction tables are set and the strategies couldn’t look more different. UP Warriorz walk in with the fattest wallet at Rs 14.5 crore, ready to spark bidding wars, while Delhi Capitals must be razor-sharp with just Rs 5.70 crore to play with.

There’s another twist – Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals, both retaining five players already and it won’t have the Right to Match card in their pocket. Every bid they lose could sting that much more.

With squads capped between 15 and 18 players, this mega auction becomes a careful balancing act of emerging stars with seasoned match-winners as the WPL gears up for its next big leap.

Deeya Yadav (Base Price: Rs 10 lakh)

If power-hitting is the currency of modern T20 cricket, Deeya Yadav is already rich. The top-order dasher from Haryana has modelled her fearless game on Shafali Verma and it shows every time she steps out swinging.

Deeya turned heads in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy with 298 runs in just eight innings, averaging 59.5 while striking at 128 — numbers backed by three cracking half-centuries. She then kept her foot firmly on the accelerator in the inter-zonal T20s, smashing 151 runs at a fiery strike rate of 149.5 to help North Zone storm into the final.

But her arrival moment came even earlier. Deeya’s jaw-dropping 213 off 125 balls* in the U-15 Women’s One-Day Trophy in 2023, the kind of innings that instantly puts a young talent on every scout’s radar.

Vaishnavi Sharma (Base Price: Rs 10 lakh)

A hat-trick on the world stage usually grabs attention and Vaishnavi Sharma hasn’t looked back since. The left-arm spinner burst onto the scene during India’s U-19 World Cup triumph in Malaysia earlier this year, finishing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker and immediately marking herself as one to watch.

Her rise has only gathered speed. Vaishnavi topped the wicket charts in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy with 21 wickets in 11 matches, striking at key moments while operating at an impressive economy of 6.47. She carried that form straight into the inter-zonal competition, collecting another 12 scalps in just five outings for Central Zone.

WPL scouts have been tracking her closely and for good reason. With her deceptive pace through the air and sharp turn off the surface, she’s exactly the kind of attacking left-arm spinner franchises love building around.

Teams were handed another curveball at the pre-auction briefing. While Pratika Rawal, Yastika Bhatia and VJ Joshitha are all listed in the WPL auction pool, the trio are currently sidelined with injuries. More importantly, if any franchise decides to take a chance and pick them, they won’t be counted in the mandatory 15-player squad and no replacements will be granted.

Rawal has entered the auction at a base price of Rs 50 lakh, Bhatia at Rs 30 lakh and Joshitha in the Rs 10 lakh bracket.

There’s also a watch-and-wait tag on India pacer Pooja Vastrakar. She isn’t fully fit yet, but unlike the others, she remains auction-ready — with a Rs 50 lakh base price.

Just a day before the WPL’s biggest auction yet, a major name is off the table. Australia’s Jess Jonassen, one of the league’s most decorated performers, has withdrawn while managing a persistent shoulder injury, ESPNCricinfo reported. Her five Player-of-the-Match awards, second only to Harmanpreet Kaur, tell you exactly what the league will be missing.

Ahead of the mega auction, UP Warriorz have retained Shweta Sehrawat (Rs 50 lakh).

Here are the players that Delhi Capitals retained ahead of the mega auction:

Jemimah Rodrigues (Rs 2.2 crore)

Shafali Verma (Rs 2.2 crore)

Annabel Sutherland (Rs 2.2 crore)

Marizanne Kapp (Rs 2.2 crore)

Niki Prasad (Rs 50 lakh)

Here are the players retained by Gujarat Giants ahead of the mega auction:

Ashleigh Gardner (Rs 3.5 crore)

Beth Mooney (Rs 2.5 crore)

Here are the players retained by Royal Challengers Bengaluru ahead of the mega auction:

Smriti Mandhana (Rs 3.5 crore)

Richa Ghosh (Rs 2.75 crore)

Ellyse Perry (Rs 2 crore)

Shreyanka Patil (Rs 60 lakh)

Here are the players retained by Mumbai Indians ahead of the mega auction:

Nat-Sciver Brunt (Rs 3.5 crore)

Harmanpreet Kaur (Rs 2.5 crore)

Hayley Matthews (Rs 1.75 crore)

Amanjot Kaur (Rs 1 crore)

G Kamalini (Rs 50 lakh)