The Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2026 is about to start. But prior to that, a mega auction awaits all five teams to undergo the necessary preparations.
The coming mega auction would mark the first time that the WPL has conducted a mega auction since its inception in 2023. This time, squads will only be partially restructured because teams will be allowed to keep a few players.
In preparation for the WPL 2026 mega auction, the BCCI has already provided all franchises with the guidelines on player retention.
Just how many players are the WPL teams allowed to keep, then?
The WPL teams have the option to keep up to five players each. Player retention can take place by using a combination of retention and Right-to-Match (RTM) cards (more on this topic subsequently).
There are, however, limits that the teams will have to observe in their process of retaining players. The following applies to the five retentions:
a maximum of three Indian international players
a maximum of two overseas players
and a maximum of two uncapped Indian players
If a team chooses to retain five players, one of them has to be an uncapped Indian player.
In addition, the BCCI has set up price tiers for retention among the teams. What is this, you may ask? Simply put, it’s the amount at which teams can keep their players.
Therefore, the retention prices are as follows:
First player at INR 3.5 crore
Second player at INR 2.5 crore
Third player at INR 1.75 crore
Fourth player at INR 1 crore
Fifth player at INR 50 lakh
The slab prices, nonetheless, are still the yardsticks. Hence, the teams can discuss the retention amount with the players. And the retention amount will, in turn, be deducted from the franchise’s auction purse.
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Suppose a team opts for five retentions, then how much will be deducted from the auction purse?
According to the aforementioned slabs, the franchise will lose INR 9.25 crores from its auction purse for the five retentions made.
Here’s the cost breakup for:
Four retentions: INR 8.75 crores
Three retentions: INR 7.75 crores
Two retentions: INR 6 crores
One retention: INR 3.50 crores
What if the team decides not to retain any player?
The franchise, in that case, would enter the WPL 2026 mega auction with a complete purse of INR 15 crores. They would be allowed to spend this amount on the new players or even for RTMs.
How many RTMs can one use in WPL 2026 mega auction?
If a team doesn’t retain a player, they can then use the RTM card five times in the auction. It is associated with the quantity of retentions that each team has made.
If a team makes five retentions, they won’t be able to use RTM at all. Four retentions will give them one RTM card while three retentions will provide two RTMs.
If teams go for two retentions then they will have three RTMs. And one retention will let them have four RTM options.
RTMs give the teams the right to repurchase the players in the auction who were in their squad last season.
When will the WPL 2026 mega auction take place?
The WPL mega auction will be between November 27, 2025.
