Deepti Sharma headlined the list of World Cup winners released into the auction pool ahead of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) mega auction scheduled for November 27. Here are the key talking points from the retentions by each franchise:
UPW have gone for a fresh start in the auction, opting to retain only uncapped Shweta Sehrawat, which means former captains Deepti Sharma and Alyssa Healy were let go as was rising pacer Kranti Gaud.
Deepti, who was player of the tournament at the recent World Cup as well as the last WPL, was their star home player for the team. UPW still retain four Right-To-Match options but Deepti is likely to attract attention from the other teams and won’t come cheap.
UPW Retentions: Shweta Sehrawat (Rs 50 lakh); Purse remaining: Rs 14.5 Cr
Delhi Capitals
Meg Lanning led DC to three successive finals but with only a maximum of two overseas retentions possible, the team opted for all-rounders Marizanne Kapp and Annabel Sutherland. The India internationals retained were Jemimah Rodrigues and Shafali Verma. Sree Charani was a standout performer at the World Cup but DC opted to go for a combination of two capped Indians and two overseas players, instead of the maximum allowed three capped Indians.
DC retentions: Jemimah Rodrigues (Rs 2.2 Cr), Shafali Verma (Rs 2.2 Cr), Annabel Sutherland (Rs 2.2 Cr), Marizanne Kapp (Rs 2.2 Cr), Niki Prasad (Rs 50 lakh); Purse remaining: Rs 5.7 Cr
Mumbai Indians
The big headache for two-time champions would have been to decide which of their star overseas all-rounders had to be retained, and they opted for Nat Sciver-Brunt and Hayley Matthews, with New Zealand’s Melie Kerr released.
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Captain Harmanpreet Kaur is in the second slab, below Sciver-Brunt while Amanjot Kaur got the nod as the second Indian capped player retained. G Kamalini, who made a splash at last year’s auction, has been retained at a lower price of Rs 50 lakh.
MI retentions: Nat-Sciver Brunt (Rs 3.5 Cr), Harmanpreet Kaur (Rs 2.5 Cr), Hayley Matthews (Rs 1.75 Cr), Amanjot Kaur (Rs 1 Cr), G Kamalini (Rs 50 lakh); Purse remaining: Rs 5.75 Cr
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
While there is uncertainty regarding the franchise’s ownership, there wasn’t much debate regarding retentions. Smriti Mandhana, as the face of the team, gets the highest slab at Rs 3.5 crore. Richa Ghosh’s stock rose during the World Cup for her power-hitting, and the overseas retention was always going to be Ellyse Perry. However, the franchise wasn’t able to keep Renuka Singh Thakur and Sneh Rana, instead opting to back Shreyanka Patil who was out injured for the 2025 season.
RCB retentions: Smriti Mandhana (Rs 3.5 Cr), Richa Ghosh (Rs 2.75 Cr), Ellyse Perry (Rs 2 Cr), Shreyanka Patil (Rs 60 lakh); Purse remaining: Rs 6.15 Cr
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Gujarat Giants
Along with UPW, GG also opted for a mega rebuild, having had a forgettable auction before the first edition and suffering the consequences for the next two years. Laura Wolvaardt and Phoebe Litchfield were the two superstar overseas names in the squad who also had superb World Cups, but they instead opted to stick with two senior Aussie stars in Ashleigh Gardner and Beth Mooney. One of the glaring problem areas in their original squad was the lack of a superstar Indian player apart from Harleen Deol and they’d look to address that in this mega auction.
GG retentions: Ashleigh Gardner (Rs 3.5 Cr), Beth Mooney (Rs 2.5 Cr); Purse remaining: Rs 9 Cr
