WPL 2026 mega auction: Teams can retain up to five players

The governing council of the Women's Premier League (WPL) has permitted franchises to re-sign up to five players from their existing squads, either through direct retention or the Right to Match (RTM) option. In a communique to the teams, accessed by Cricbuzz, the BCCI confirmed that each franchise will have a purse of INR 15 crore to rebuild its squad for the upcoming season.

Franchises have been asked to finalise their retentions by November 5, with the WPL mega auction set to be scheduled between November 26 and 29.

According to the BCCI guidelines, a team can retain a maximum of three Indian capped players, two overseas players or two uncapped Indian players. If a team opts to retain the full quota of five players, at least one must be an uncapped player.

The retained players will be valued under the following price slabs:

Retention 1 - INR 3.50 crore

Retention 2 - INR 2.50 crore

Retention 3 - INR 1.75 crore

Retention 4 - INR 1 crore

Retention 5 - INR 50 lakh

Thus, a team retaining five players will have INR 9.25 crore deducted from its purse and will not be eligible for any RTM cards. Teams retaining four players will lose INR 8.75 crore and get one RTM, while those retaining three will have two RTMs available and so on.

Each uncapped player retained will cost INR 50 lakh. Franchises are also allowed to pay retained players more than the prescribed slabs, with the corresponding excess amount deducted from their purse.

The deadline for player registration is November 18, and the final list of players for the auction will be shared by the BCCI on November 20.