WPL franchises could get major revamp with mega auction ahead of 2026 season

MUMBAI: The five franchises in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) are all set for a major revamp, with a mega auction being decided to be held by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) ahead of the 2026 season.

As per ESPNCricinfo, franchises have received an informal communication about the mega auction likely to take place by November-end.

The franchises are awaiting confirmation from the WPL regarding the number of retentions, the auction purse, retention slabs and the number of right-to-match options available. The WPL committee will finalise these decisions. The dates for the 2026 edition of the competition have yet to be announced, despite the BCCI’s earlier indication that the event will be scheduled for a January-February window.

The competition was launched in 2023 with the Mumbai Indians (MI) as the inaugural champions, followed by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in 2024, and then MI once again. It has become one of the most lucrative women’s sporting events globally.

Also, it is understood that MI and RCB, along with Delhi Capitals (DC), were not in favour of mega actions, reasoning that they had worked really hard to build their squad over the last three years and dismantling it just when their brand as a WPL team is being established could be counter-productive.

However, the other two franchises, UP Warriorz and Gujarat Giants, are supportive of the auctions, having never made it to the final and aiming for an overhaul of their squads. While they understood the sentiments of the other three teams, they wanted the WPL to have all five teams be powerful, as per a WPL official.

The official also pointed out that franchises like RCB have demonstrated in the IPL that they can build a brand identity independent of the players retained, although it was acknowledged that the presence of the legendary Indian batter Virat Kohli was well leveraged by the franchise.

The official also pointed out that WPL will ensure that teams get a chance to retain their core. It is understood that while some teams were in favour of retaining six or seven players, the WPL committee could permit close to five players to be retained. What also needs to be determined is how many RTMs each team can have at the auction, along with a combination of capped and uncapped players.

For the 2025 IPL mega actions, all 10 teams were allowed a maximum of six retentions via retentions and RTM. The six retained players would be a maximum of five capped (Indian/overseas) and a maximum of two uncapped Indian players. The RTM option allows franchises to buy back a player during the auction by matching the highest bid made for that player by another franchise once bidding is over. The RTM rule has never been used in WPL, though.

The WPL has proven to be a game-changer in women’s cricket, largely due to the unprecedented exposure and financial benefits it offers to players. In 2023, Viacom 18 secured the broadcasting rights for the competition for Rs 951 crore from 2023 to 2027, with a per-match value of Rs 7.09 crore. Star Indian opener Smriti Mandhana is the most expensive player in the tournament’s history, bought by RCB for Rs 3.2 crore in the inaugural auction. (ANI)