WPL 2026 Auction: Safe to say that women’s cricket is at the peak of its popularity at the moment. Over the past few years, the sport has been seeing packed stadiums and more discussion surrounding it. And now with the Indian Women’s Cricket Team winning the World Cup for the first time, it will only grow more popular in the biggest cricketing market in the world.
And the biggest display of the popularity and fan following of women’s cricket in India has been the Women’s Premier League, or the WPL. The tournament started in 2023 and is an all-women’s counterpart to the uber-successful IPL.
In the three seasons the WPL has been played, Indian audiences have grown to know and become fans of cricketers from all over the world. But the league has also done wonders for Indian cricket.
When And Where Is the WPL 2026 Auction
And now, with the World Cup win, and that too at home, the WPL will have more eyes on it than ever before.
And so, today, we will reveal the WPL 2026 live auction. When and where will the event take place? Where will it be streamed? And other relevant details about the event.
The auction for the 2026 season of the TATA Womens Premier League will take place on November 27, 2025, which will fall on a Thursday. Earlier this year, it was announced that Delhi piped Goa as the location for the auction.
As for the location, while the exact place for the proceedings has not been announced, IANS reports that the auction will be held in a popular hotel in Aerocity, Delhi, near the Indira Gandhi International Airport. Earlier, the famous Bharat Mandapam at Pragati Maidan was considered a location. However, it will be occupied by the India International Trade Fair on that date.
WPL 2026 Auction Live Telecast:
The event will be broadcast live on the Star Sports Network
WPL 2026 Live Streaming:
Fans can stream the event in real time through the JioHotstar app or the official Hotstar website, using mobiles, laptops, and other streaming devices.
Having discussed the date and location of the event, let’s discuss the hows. If you have ever seen the IPL auction, you know how the WPL auction world works. Each of the five franchises will have a hefty purse of Rs. 15 Crore.
Each of the teams, which are the Mumbai Indians (defending champions), Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Delhi Capitals, Gujarat Giants, and UP Warriorz, can retain a maximum of five players before the auction. Yes, this is a mega-auction!.
Of these five retained players, a maximum of three can be Indian capped, two can be overseas, and only a maximum of two can be Indian uncapped players. If a team makes five retentions, at least one of them has to be an uncapped Indian.
The following are the price slabs for the retained players:
- Retention 1: Rs. 3.50 Crore
- Retention 2: Rs. 2.50 Crore
- Retention 3: Rs. 1.75 Crore
- Retention 4: Rs. 1.00 Crore
- Retention 5: Rs. 50 lakh
This means that if a team makes all five available retentions, Rs. 9.25 Crore will be deducted from their Rs. 15 Crore purse, and they will also not be eligible for any RTM or Right to Match cards. Four retentions will see a team lose Rs. 8.75 Crore and have one RTM, and so on.
All the teams have until 5:00 pm on November 5, Wednesday, to announce their retentions. The final date for player registration for the WPL 2026 mega-auction is November 18, and the final list of players will be released on November 20, a week before the auction.
And with everything being pushed a month ahead compared to years before, The Times of India has reported that even the WPL 2026 season will be pushed forward a month and will start on January 6 or 8, 2026.
The recent ICC Womens Cricket World Cup will play a role in the teams deciding their retentions. However, most teams will already have the players they want to keep locked in. And while successful teams like the Mumbai Indians and the Delhi Capitals, or star-studded teams like the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, might make 4-5 retentions, a team like the UP Warriorz, which has not had the best three-year run in the league, might want to start fresh.
Check Out: When And Where Is the WPL 2026 Auction
FAQs –
Q) Who is the most expensive player in WPL auction history?
A) The Royal Challengers Bengaluru acquired star Indian batter Smriti Mandhana for a whopping Rs. 3.40 Crore in the WPL 2023 auction.
Q) Which teams have won the previous editions of the WPL?
A) The inaugural season of the Womens Premier League in 2023 was won by the Mumbai Indians. Then, in 2024, RCB picked the title before MI became the first team to win the title twice in 2025.
Q) Which is the best-performing team in W PL history?
A) Despite never winning the title, the Delhi Capitals are by far the best-performing team in WPL history. In all three seasons, they finished first on the points table, thus making it to the final. It is in the final match where they have faltered thrice in a row.
Get WPL 2025 Live Score & WPL 2025 Team Updates along with Latest Player News at IceCric.News and Follow for Live Updates – Facebook & Instagram.
