The 2026 Women's Premier League (WPL) Auction was conducted on Thursday, November 27, in New Delhi, where franchises reshaped their team after naming their initial retentions on deadline day. The UP Warriorz and the Gujarat Giants walked in with the biggest purses after releasing the majority of their squads.
Whereas, the Mumbai Indians and the Delhi Capitals came in with a tight budget after keeping hold of their core that delivered in the first cycle of the competition.
Star Team India all-rounder Deepti Sharma emerged as the most expensive acquisition at the auction after the UP Warriorz used their Right to Match Card to secure her services again for INR 3.2 crore. Among overseas players, New Zealand's Amelia Kerr was the biggest pick as MI re-signed her for INR 3 crore.
On that note, let us rank the five squads at the end of the WPL 2026 Auction.
GG have almost gone into every auction so far in search of a major revamp and a formula that clicks. Despite a sizeable purse and a decent retained core, they failed to assemble a well-balanced squad compared to other franchises.
They surprisingly shelled out INR 2 crore for a 36-year-old Sophie Devine right at the start of the auction, meaning that three of their top four are likely to be overseas names now. They made a smart pick at the end with Yastika Bhatia, but her potential unavailability is a massive blow.
Some of their other smart picks include Georgia Wareham and Bharti Fulmali, but their middle-order lacks specialists, and their bowling unit lacks experience, apart from their spearhead, Renuka Singh Thakur. They have to rely on an all-Indian seam attack and hope their Australian all-rounders, Ashleigh Gardner and Georgia Wareham, to excel with both bat and ball if their gamble on Indian youngsters in the back end of the playing XI fails.
MI have entrusted the same core to continue delivering success from the first cycle. After spending the majority of their purse on bringing back Amelia Kerr, they had to rely on their scouting network to pick up players at their base price.
The franchise will now have to go for a new opening partner with Hayley Matthews, while their middle-order is overly dependent on Nat Sciver-Brunt and Harmanpreet Kaur.
As far as their bowling unit goes, it once again up to their all-rounder trio and Shabnim Ismail to work their magic, as there are no significant Indian names that could deliver apart from some unproven new names. Amanjot Kaur's recent rise comes across as a major boost for the team. While MI arguably had their hands tied with the mega auction guidelines, they were adamant about maintaining the same squad despite it coming at a cost.
Coming into the auction with almost a full purse, the UP Warriorz can safely say that they are leaving with a much better squad than they came in with. Trading one Australian for other, the franchise have a solid leadership option and an opener in Meg Lanning. They used their RTM's smartly to keep a hold of the spin all-rounder pair of Sophie Ecclestone and Deepti Sharma.
The franchise had to go over and beyond to rope in Shikha Pandey, but they won't mind as they have lacked experience in the Indian seam bowling department in the past. With Asha Sobhana as a brilliant leg spin option to complement the off-spin pair of Ecclestone and Sharma, and Dottin being a crucial buy for impact in the middle-order, the squad has the right balance between experience and youth potential.
Furthermore, they also have some solid bench options like Tara Norris, Pratika Rawal, and Chloe Tryon, all of whom are international players.
RCB made a massive statement by assembling a serious pace attack, a massive upgrade from their previous unit, which was more or less reliant on Renuka Singh Thakur. With a trio of international pacers in Arundhati Reddy, Pooja Vastrakar, and Lauren Bell, RCB perhaps have one of the best seam attacks in the competition, if not the best, especially if Perry is able to chip in as well.
Having already had a strong core, RCB made some shrewd overseas acquisitions in Grace Harris and Nadine de Klerk, both of whom can provide a boost in terms of finishing, or even at the top.
Another area that RCB needed to address was their spin bowling unit after releasing both Asha Sobhana and Sophie Molineux. They replaced the pair with the likes of Radha Yadav and Linsey Smith, both of whom have been on the rise of late.
DC were one of the top performers in the first-ever auction, and they played their cards quite well in the 2026 mega auction as well. Much like RCB and MI, they had a strong retained core which already ticked the majority of the batting framework and pace bowling attack.
To plug the holes, which were primarily finding spinners and Shafali Verma's opening partner, DC hit the mark by bringing in Laura Wolvaardt and Sree Charani as some of their most expensive signings.
However, their most expensive acquisition, and one that was desperately needed given their lack of firepower in the back end, was Chinelle Henry. The overseas trio of Kapp, Sutherland, and Henry, gives all the freedom for Jemimah Rodrigues to feature at No.3.
The inclusion of these three players, as well as Sneh Rana, coupled with their existing core, makes DC still a very balanced outfit despite losing out on Meg Lanning, Shikha Pandey, and Radha Yadav.