India women’s World Cup winners- Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues- are among the high-profile players to be retained for the 2026 season of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) by various franchises ahead of the mega auction. According to ESPNcricinfo reports, the Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals have decided to retain five players, the maximum allowed.

Australia’s Alyssa Healy and Meg Lanning, New Zealand’s all-rounder Amelia Kerr, will enter the auction pool along with the marquee release of India’s Deepti Sharma, the player of the tournament in the World Cup. Deepti led the Warriorz in Healy’s absence in 2025. Bengaluru retained four players while Gujarat and UP went with two and one, respectively.

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Franchises are allowed to retain a maximum of three capped Indian players, a maximum of two overseas players, and a maximum of two uncapped Indian players. In a case they want to keep their five players, the rules state that at least one should be an uncapped player/

WPL 2026 auction: UP Warriorz set to release Deepti Sharma ahead of mega auction

The WPL, for the first time, will have the use of the right-to-match (RTM) card in the auction to buy back a player who was part of their squad in 2025. The franchises are allotted INR 15 crore for the auction, which will take place on November 27 in Delhi. Delhi and Mumbai will have INR 5.75 crore to build their squad, which should have been between 16 and 18 players.

The UP side, who kept their uncapped player, will have the maximum purse of INR 14.5 crore along with four RTMs. On the other hand, the Giants will have three RTMs, restricted to Indian players, and a purse of INR 9 crore, while RCB will have INR 6.25 crore besides one RTM card.

List of retained players for Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2026-

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: Beth Mooney and Ashleigh Gardner

UP Warriorz: Shweta Sehrawat