Ahead of the eagerly anticipated Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2026 mega auction, all five franchises have unveiled their list of retained players. According to the retention guidelines, each team could retain up to five players, with a maximum of three capped Indian players and two overseas players. If the team retained all five, at least one had to be an uncapped Indian player.
Full List of Retained Players:
Mumbai Indians:
Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur, Hayley Mathews, Amanjot Kaur, G. Kamalini
Delhi Capitals:
Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Marizanne Kapp, Annabel Sutherland, Niki Prasad
Gujarat Giants:
Ashleigh Gardner, Beth Mooney
Royal Challengers Bengaluru:
Smriti Mandhana, Richa Ghosh, Ellyse Perry, Shreyanka Patil
UP Warriorz:
Shweta Sehrawat
Each franchise was given a total auction purse of INR 15 crore for the forthcoming WPL 2026 auction. The WPL has also implemented retention slabs, which determine how much money would be taken from a team’s purse for each kept player: INR 3.5 crore for the first player, INR 2.5 crore for the second, INR 1.75 crore for the third, INR 1 crore for the fourth, and INR 50 lakh for the fifth. Based on these slabs, retaining five players will cost a team INR 9.25 crore. Additionally, keeping four players will cost INR 8.75 crore, three players INR 7.75 crore, two players INR 6 crore, and one player INR 3.5 crore.
Following these deductions, the franchises’ remaining auction purses are as follows: Mumbai Indians (MI) and Delhi Capitals (DC) have INR 5.75 crore each, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) have INR 6.25 crore, Gujarat Giants (GG) will join the auction with INR 9 crore, and UP Warriorz, who kept only one player, would have the strongest purse of INR 14.5 crore.
The WPL 2026 mega auction is set to take place in New Delhi on November 27.
With UP Warriorz participating in the auction with the highest purse and four RTMs, the spotlight will be on how they shape their squad to compete for the WPL 2026 title. Meanwhile, heavyweights Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals, who have each kept their five core players, will have limited funds to effectively fill the remaining slots.
