WPL 2026 auction - what teams need, what they can do about it

First things first: when is the auction?
The auction for WPL 2026 is on November 27 in Delhi, starting 3.30pm IST. A total of 277 players - 194 Indian and 83 overseas - are part of it.

How many slots will be filled?
A maximum of 73 are available. Fifty of those are for Indian players and 23 for others. Each team can have up to 18 players in their squad, of which six can be overseas. The minimum squad size is 15.

After the first 67 players have been presented, the accelerated round will begin. For that, the franchises will nominate a set number of players from the remaining lot. Once that is done, the franchises can submit the names of unpresented or unsold players from the full list of 277 for further bidding.

Who could be the biggest buys?
The teams could go hard for former Australia captain Meg Lanning, who has rediscovered her form in the ongoing WBBL. New Zealand's Amelia Kerr and Australia's Phoebe Litchfield should trigger bidding wars. The South African pair of Laura Wolvaardt and Nadine de Klerk should see their stocks rise as well, thanks to their performance in the recent ODI World Cup.

Among Indians, Deepti Sharma, the Player of the Tournament at the World Cup, is likely to be the most sought-after name. Kranti Gaud and N Shree Charani, too, could fetch good money.

Wait, some of the usual suspects are missing from this. Have they been retained?
Yes, the WPL allowed the franchises to retain, or buy back, up to five players, using either retentions or the right-to-match (RTM) option at the auction. Of those five, a maximum of three could be capped Indians, two from overseas and two uncapped Indians. If a team wanted to retain five players, then at least one of them had to be an uncapped Indian. Here is what has happened so far:

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

What about the RTM option?
For the first time, the WPL teams can use the RTM cards to buy back a player who was part of their squad in 2025. Since UPW retained only one player, they have four RTM cards available. GG have three RTM cards, but those can be used only for Indian players as they have already retained two overseas players. RCB have one RTM card, which they can use to buy back an uncapped Indian player - offspinner Jagravi Pawar and allrounders VJ Joshitha and Prema Rawat are their only options. DC and MI, who retained five players each, do not have the RTM option available.

How much money is left with each team?
Of the overall purse of INR 15 crore, UPW still have INR 14.50 crore. GG have the next biggest purse, INR 9 crore. They are followed by RCB (6.15 crore), MI (5.75 crore) and DC (5.70 crore). Both MI and DC need to buy at least ten players each to complete their respective squads.

Are there any big names absent from the auction list?
Australia's Tahlia McGrath and her compatriot Sophie Molineux are the biggest ones missing. Former South Africa captain Dane van Niekerk, who is set to make a comeback to international cricket, is not part of the list either.

There was some rule about Associate players, too. Remind me?
A team can have a fifth overseas player in their XI if she is from an Associate nation. But for the squad composition, they are treated like any other overseas player.

So how many Associate players are part of the auction list?
Only four: Theertha Satish and Esha Oza (both UAE), Tara Norris (USA) and Thipatcha Putthawong (Thailand). Scotland's Bryce sisters - Kathryn and Sarah - might have stayed away as the WPL clashes with the 2026 T20 World Cup qualifier, where their team is competing.

And when is the WPL starting?
The tournament is set to begin on January 7, with the final scheduled for the first week of February. The first half will be played at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, where India won the ODI World Cup recently, and the second half at the Kotambi Stadium in Vadodara. The schedule is yet to be announced.