WPL 2026 - How the five teams stack up after the mega auction

No. of players: 16 (6 overseas)

Hot take: MI went all out to retain the core of the squad that has won them two WPL titles in the first three seasons. That explained why they spent 52% of their auction purse on New Zealand allrounder Amelia Kerr. They also wanted South African fast bowler Shabnim Ismail so badly that they raised the paddle even before the auctioneer announced her name. MI have put together another strong squad that has an abundance of all-round options; only three of their 16 players are specialist bowlers.

Possible first XI: 1 G Kamalini (wk), 2 Hayley Matthews, 3 Nat Sciver-Brunt, 4 Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), 5 Amelia Kerr, 6 Amanjot Kaur, 7 Poonam Khemnar, 8 S Sajana, 9 Sanskriti Gupta, 10 Shabnim Ismail, 11 Saika Ishaque

Batters: Harmanpreet Kaur (INR 2.5 crore)
Wicketkeepers: G Kamalini (INR 50 lakh), Rahila Firdous (INR 10 lakh)
Allrounders: Nat Sciver-Brunt (INR 3.5 crore), Hayley Matthews (INR 1.75 crore), Amanjot Kaur (INR 1 crore), Amelia Kerr (INR 3 crore), Sanskriti Gupta (INR 20 lakh), S Sajana (INR 75 lakh), Nicola Carey (INR 30 lakh), Triveni Vasistha (INR 20 lakh), Nalla Reddy (INR 10 lakh), Poonam Khemnar (INR 10 lakh)
Spinners Saika Ishaque (INR 30 lakh)
Fast bowlers: Shabnim Ismail (INR 60 lakh), Milly Illingworth (INR 10 lakh)

No. of players: 16 (6 overseas)

Hot take: The overseas firepower is undeniable but the missing link is a reliable Indian batter who can be the bridge between the middle and lower middle-order. D Hemalatha and Gautami Naik are two potential candidates; one has struggled in the WPL and the other is completely untested.

Possible first XI: 1 Smriti Mandhana (capt), 2 Grace Harris, 3 Ellyse Perry, 4 D Hemalatha, 5 Richa Ghosh (wk), 6 Nadine de Klerk, 7 Pooja Vastrakar, 8 Radha Yadav, 9 Shreyanka Patil, 10 Arundhati Reddy, 11 Lauren Bell

Batters: Smriti Mandhana (INR 3.5 crore), Georgia Voll (INR 60 lakh), D Hemalatha (INR 30 lakh), Gautami Naik (INR 10 lakh)
Wicketkeepers: Richa Ghosh (INR 2.75 crore), Pratyoosha Kumar (INR 10 lakh)
Allrounders: Ellyse Perry (INR 2 crore), Pooja Vastrakar (INR 85 lakh), Grace Harris (INR 75 lakh), Nadine de Klerk (INR 60 lakh)
Spinners Shreyanka Patil (INR 60 lakh), Radha Yadav (INR 65 lakh), Linsey Smith (INR 30 lakh), Prema Rawat (RTM, INR 20 lakh)
Fast bowlers: Arundhati Reddy (INR 75 lakh), Lauren Bell (INR 90 lakh)

No. of players: 18 (6 overseas)

Hot take: They came to the auction with by far the biggest purse and made full use of it to assemble a well-rounded squad. Three of the five most expensive buys belonged to them: Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey and Meg Lanning. Deepti, who was bought using the right-to-match option, fetched INR 3.20 crore, the joint-second-most expensive player at a WPL auction. UPW also spent INR 1.20 crore on Phoebe Litchfield and INR 1.10 crore on Asha Sobhana. By comparison, Sophie Ecclestone (INR 85 lakh), Deandra Dottin (INR 80 lakh) and Kranti Gaud (INR 50 lakh) were steals. The only Associate player of WPL 2026 is also in their squad: USA's left-arm seamer Tara Norris.

Possible first XI: 1 Meg Lanning, 2 Kiran Navgire, 3 Harleen Deol, 4 Phoebe Litchfield, 5 Deepti Sharma, 6 Deandra Dottin, 7 Sophie Ecclestone, 8 Asha Sobhana, 9 Shipra Giri (wk), 10 Shikha Pandey, 11 Kranti Gaud

Batters: Meg Lanning (INR 1.90 crore), Phoebe Litchfield (INR 1.20 crore), Kiran Navgire (RTM, INR 60 lakh), Pratika Rawal (INR 50 lakh), Shweta Sehrawat (retained, INR 50 lakh), Harleen Deol (INR 50 lakh), Simran Shaikh (INR 10 lakh)
Wicketkeepers: Shipra Giri (INR 10 lakh)
Allrounders: Deepti Sharma (RTM, INR 3.20 crore), Deandra Dottin (INR 0.80 crore), Chloe Tryon (INR 30 lakh), G Trisha (INR 10 lakh), Suman Meena (INR 10 lakh)
Spinners: Asha Sobhana (INR 1.1 crore), Sophie Ecclestone (RTM, INR 0.85 crore)
Fast bowlers Shikha Pandey (INR 2.40 crore), Kranti Gaud (RTM, INR 50 lakh), Tara Norris (INR 10 lakh)

No. of players: 16 (6 overseas)

Hot take: DC paid INR 1.30 crore, their joint-highest bid of the day, to buy West Indies allrounder Chinelle Henry. DC had faced Henry's wrath last season, when she smashed a 23-ball 62 while playing for UPW. They also paid INR 1.3 crore to buy back left-arm spinner N Shree Charani, who played an important role in India's ODI World Cup victory. They have packed their squad with allrounders and top-order batters, but are short of Indian fast bowlers. Another exciting prospect is 16-year-old Deeya Yadav from Haryana, who DC head coach Jonathan Batty described as "a young Shafali."

Possible first XI 1 Shafali Verma, 2 Laura Wolvaardt, 3 Jemimah Rodrigues, 4 Marizanne Kapp, 5 Annabel Sutherland, 6 Chinelle Henry, 7 Niki Prasad, 8 Taniya Bhatia (wk), 9 Sneh Rana, 10 Shree Charani, 11 Nandani Sharma

Batters: Shafali Verma (INR 2.20 crore), Jemimah Rodrigues (INR 2.20 crore), Laura Wolvaardt (INR 1.10 crore), Deeya Yadav (INR 10 lakh)
Wicketkeepers: Taniya Bhatia (INR 30 lakh), Lizelle Lee (INR 30 lakh), Mamatha Madiwala (INR 10 lakh)
Allrounders: Annabel Sutherland (INR 2.20 crore), Marizanne Kapp (INR 2.20 crore), Niki Prasad (INR 50 lakh), Chinelle Henry (INR 1.30 crore), Sneh Rana (INR 50 lakh), Minnu Mani (INR 40 lakh), Lucy Hamilton (INR 10 lakh)
Spinners: Shree Charani (INR 1.30 crore)
Fast bowlers: Nandani Sharma (INR 20 lakh)

No. of players: 18 (6 overseas)

Hot take: At INR 2 crore, Sophie Devine was their biggest buy of the day. With Beth Mooney and Ashleigh Gardner retained before the auction, they have a solid batting core. But that's about it. They did pick Yastika Bhatia but she is unlikely to be available because of injury. The rest of their Indian batters lack experience at the big stage. Except for Renuka Singh, the same can be said about their Indian seamers too, although Titas Sadhu and Kashvee Gautam are promising youngsters.

Possible first XI: 1 Beth Mooney (wk), 2 Sophie Devine, 3 Bharti Fulmali, 4 Ashleigh Gardner, 5 Georgia Wareham, 6 Kanika Ahuja, 7 Ayushi Soni, 8 Kashvee Gautam, 9 Tanuja Kanwar, 10 Titas Sadhu, 11 Renuka Singh

Batters: Bharti Fulmali (RTM, INR 70 lakh), Danni Wyatt-Hodge (INR 50 lakh), Shivani Singh (INR 10 lakh)
Wicketkeepers: Beth Mooney (retained INR 2.5 crore), Yastika Bhatia (INR 50 lakh)
Allrounders: Ashleigh Gardner (retained, INR 3.50 crore), Sophie Devine (INR 2 crore), Georgia Wareham (INR 1 crore), Kashvee Gautam (RTM, INR 65 lakh), Anushka Sharma (INR 45 lakh), Kanika Ahuja (INR 30 lakh), Ayushi Soni (INR 30 lakh)
Spinners: Tanuja Kanwar (INR 45 lakh), Rajeshwari Gayakwad (INR 40 lakh)
Fast bowlers: Renuka Singh (INR 60 lakh), Kim Garth (INR 50 lakh), Titas Sadhu (INR 30 lakh), Happy Kumari (INR 10 lakh)