WPL 2026 Mega Auction (X.com/@imfemalecricket)
Following India women's historic triumph in the Women's World Cup 2025 in Navi Mumbai, the focus now shifts to the Women's Premier League. Notably, on Thursday, all five franchises revealed their retained players list ahead of the WPL 2026 mega auction.
While some decisions were obvious choices. For example, RCB retained Smriti Mandhana and Ellyse Perry, and MI's choice was to keep Harmanpreet Kaur and Nat Sciver Brunt. However, some choices are making headlines.
Notably, UP Warriorz's retention list consists of only one name - Shweta Sehrawat - a 21-year-old, uncapped Indian player. Their choice not to retain the world-class spinner Sophie Ecclestone and Grace Harris, a clean hitter of the ball, has raised some eyebrows.
That being said, let's take a look at the names of all the players released by each team.
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Full list of released players ahead of WPL 2026 Mega Auction
| Team | Released Players |
| Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) | Sophie Devine, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Georgia Wareham, Kim Garth, Heather Graham, Charlie Dean, Kate Cross, Sophie Molineux, Renuka Singh, Sabbineni Meghana, Ekta Bisht, Kanika Ahuja, Nuzhat Parween, Prema Rawat, Joshitha VJ, Jagravi Pawar, Raghvi Bisht, Asha Sobhana |
| Mumbai Indians (MI) | Amelia Kerr, Chloe Tryon, Shabnim Ismail, Nadine de Klerk, Yastika Bhatia, Saika Ishaque, Pooja Vastrakar, Jintimani Kalita, S Sajana, Amandeep Kaur, Keerthana Balakrishnan, Sanskriti Gupta, Akshita Maheshwari, Parunika Sisodia |
| Delhi Capitals (DC) | Meg Lanning, Sneha Deepthi, Alice Capsey, Arundhati Reddy, Jess Jonassen, Minnu Mani, N Charani, Shikha Pandey, Nandini Kashyap, Sarah Bryce, Taniyaa Bhatia, Radha Yadav, Titas Sadhu |
| Gujarat Giants (GG) | Laura Wolvaardt, Phoebe Litchfield, Deandra Dottin, Danielle Gibson, Harleen Deol, Dayalan Hemalatha, Tanuja Kanwar, Meghna Singh, Kashvee Gautam, Shabnam Shakil, Priya Mishra, Mannat Kashyap, Sayali Sathgare, Simran Shaikh, Prakashika Naik, Bharti Fulmali |
| UP Warriorz (UPW) | Alyssa Healy, Sophie Ecclestone, Tahlia McGrath, Grace Harris, Alana King, Chamari Athapaththu, Chinelle Henry, Deepti Sharma, Kiran Navgire, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Anjali Sarvani, Vrinda Dinesh, Poonam Khemnar, Saima Thakor, Gouher Sultana, Kranti Goud, Arushi Goel |
WPL 2026 Auction: Purse remaining and RTMs available for each team
- RCB women - ₹ 6.15 cr (1 RTMs)
- MI women - ₹ 5.75 cr (0 RTMs)
- DC women - ₹ 5.7 cr (0 RTMs)
- GG women - ₹ 9 cr (3 RTMs)
- UP Warriorz - ₹ 14.5 cr (4 RTMs)
Deepti Sharma, Amelia Kerr, Sophie Ecclestone: Shocking names with unexpected release
Finishing last in the previous WPL edition, UP Warriorz, the Lucknow-based franchise, decided to part ways with all its capped players. This included names like Deepti Sharma, the Player of the Tournament from the 2025 ICC Women's World Cup, along with Australian skipper Alyssa Healy and England's premier spinner Sophie Ecclestone.
Apart from that, the 3-time WPL winner Mumbai Indians decided to move on from Amelia Kerr, who has also been a key part of the team since 2023, as well as express quick Shabnim Ismail.
South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt, the highest run-scorer of the recently held Women's world championship, is another surprise release that gained the attention of many.
With the WPL 2026 Mega Auction set to take place on November 27 in New Delhi, it'll be interesting to see which player gets targeted by which franchise. With a good bunch of names available for bidding, fans can expect bombshells being dropped starting from the auction itself.
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.jpg?type=mq "Maxwell's 200 in 2023")
