Women's Premier League Auction To Be Held In New Delhi, Franchises To Submit Final List Of Retentions In November: Report

The fourth edition of the Women's Premier League (WPL) will be played in 2026. Mumbai Indians Women had defeated Delhi Capitals Women in the summit clash of WPL 2025, and they will start the tournament next year as defending champions.

Mumbai Indians have won the trophy two times (2023 and 2025), whereas the Royal Challengers Bengaluru have won the coveted title just once (2024) in the history of the tournament.

ALSO READ | Virat Kohli 125 Runs Away From Achieving Two Major Career Milestones, On The Cusp Of Becoming First Player In History To Script Unique Records

Women's Premier League Auction to Be Held in Late November: Report

The WPL auction for the upcoming 2026 edition will be held in New Delhi. As per a report in Cricbuzz, the window of the auction has been narrowed to November 26-27. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had indicated that they were looking at the November 26-29 window, but it might now be held between November 26-27.

ALSO READ | Worrying Signs for Team India, Cricket Australia Uses Never-Seen-Before Pitch Curation Strategy in Adelaide Ahead of Second IND vs AUS ODI

With just 5 franchises having squad size of 18, the auction is likely to be wrapped up in a single day. A total of 90 players are likely to be picked. All the five franchises are expected to make some retentions before they enter the Women's Premier League auction. The report in Cricbuzz further states that the franchises will have to submit their list of retained players by November 5.

The first retention will cost the franchise INR 3.5 crore, the second retention will be of INR 2.5 crore, third retention will be of INR 1.75 crore, fourth retention for INR 1 crore, and the fifth retention can go up to INR 50 lakh. The purse size for every franchise will be of INR 15 crore, and if any franchise decides to avail all the five retentions, they can lose up to INR 9.25 crore.

ALSO READ | 'Thank You Virat, Don’t Be Stranger': South Australian Cricket Association Posts Cryptic Kohli Tribute Amid Speculations Of His ODI Retirement

Explaining the Right to Match Rule for WPL Auctions

The franchises will be allowed five Right to Match (RTM) options, and they will directly be related to the number of retentions the franchises decide to make prior to the auction. If a franchise doesn't retain any player, they can go into the auction with five RTMs. On the contrary, if a franchise retains five players, they will not have any RTMs left for the auction. Every RTM will equal to one retention in the auction.