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KKR coach's tactics on point, DC make blunders - How WPL teams fared in auction marquee round

Abhinav Tyagi

WPL auction - (Source: AFP/Johns/X.com)WPL auction - (Source: AFP/Johns/X.com)

The much-awaited second mega-auction in WPL history is underway in New Delhi, with 277 players set to undergo the hammer. At the time of writing, the marquee round has completed, and it was a shocking 30 minutes of entertainment. 

Meanwhile, this article will shed light on analysing the marquee set and how each team do during the first round.

Alyssa Healy Goes Unsold

In a shocking event, Australia captain Alyssa Healy started the mega-auction but found no bidders and, in fact, went unsold. It was shocking to see the star Aussie go unsold. 

It was a bizarre decision from all teams and felt like a result of her recent injury concerns. Despite that, it was a shocking decision, because the 35-year-old brings experience and also runs with the bat. 

Notably, Healy has scored 65 runs in four innings, which includes a 30-plus score. Although during the 2025 Women's ODI World Cup, Healy scored 299 runs in five innings, averaging a whopping 74.75, which featured two consecutive centuries.

Although it is quite likely that Healy will return in the accelerated round and find a bidder at a lower price point.

UP Warriorz steal the show with smart strategy

Notably, UP entered the auction with the highest purse value as they retained just a solitary player. In the marquee set, UP bought three players - Deepti Sharma, Meg Lanning and Phoebe Litchfield.

In a bizarre move, UP Warriorz bagged Deepti Sharma for 3.2 crores. Notably, Deepti featured for UP in the previous season, and the franchise released her only to buy her back at a higher price point, which made little to no sense.

However, besides this, Deepti deserves to go at a higher price of 3.2 crores for her all-around performances. Even in the 2025 World Cup, she scored 215 runs in seven innings, averaging 30.71. 

More than the bat, Deepti shone with the ball and picked up 22 wickets in nine innings, registering a strike-rate of 22.00. However, UP bought Meg Lanning, who led Delhi Capitals to three finals at 1.9 crores and Phoebe Litchfield at a bargain of 1.2 crores.

Interestingly, earlier, UP created a space of 5 crores by releasing Deepti and Ecclestone, but bought back Deepti, Lanning, and Litchfield at a combined price point of 4.9 crores.

Mumbai Indians look to buy WPL 2025 squad in auction

Mumbai Indians made a solitary buy in the marquee set and went all in for Amelia Kerr at 3 crores. It feels that the Mumbai Indians women are looking to buy back the stars who represented them in previous seasons.

Although 3 crores feels a little too much for Kerr, as she has not got off to the greatest of starts in WBBL 2025. Notably, she is yet to open the account with the bat and is wicketless with no wickets in two matches.

RCB part ways with Renuka Singh Thakur; eyes IPL 2025 auction-like strategy

Renuka Thakur was also one of the marquee players for WPL 2026, but the RCB decided to part ways with Renuka because of her underwhelming performance.

Eventually, Thakur went to Gujarat Giants, but it seems that the RCB are looking for an IPL-type strategy, which is to buy role-specific players; that is why they didn't go after big names in the marquee list. 

Delhi Capitals make blunder; fails to buy first-choice interests

Delhi Capitals had a below-average marquee set, where they went after a lot of high-profile players before settling for Laura Wolvaardt for 1.10 crores. 

Besides that, DC made another blunder as they bought Sophie Ecclestone for 85 lakhs, but when UP Warriorz raised RTM for Sophie Ecclestone, they didn't raise the price and let the player go to the Warriorz.

The least DC management could do was to raise the price-point and reduce UP's purse value for the remainder of the mega-auction.