 "Deepti Sharma and Meg Lanning were released by UP Warriorz and Delhi Capitals respectively despite leading their franchises. PTI")
On November 27, 2025, the Women’s Premier League (WPL) will enter a new era. An era that will involve a mega auction and a subsequent shake-up of squads . Teams, to that end, have already retained and released players. Some have opted to use their entire complement of five retentions (like the Delhi Capitals and the Mumbai Indians ). Some have opted to use most of it (like the Royal Challengers Bengaluru). And some, namely the Gujarat Giants and the UP Warriorz have decided to build a squad, more or less, from scratch.
All of that means there are several possibilities at the auction. A lot of A-listers will be going under the hammer, and while it is usually tough to outline how an auction will go, what fun is it without predicting who might fetch the highest sums.
Here is, thus, a list of seven players who could spark a bidding war. Not in any particular order, though.
Deepti Sharma
There was a lot of head-scratching when it became official that the Warriorz were letting Deepti go . Not just because Deepti is a world-class all-rounder (who also happens to have been named the Player of the Tournament at the recently-concluded Women’s World Cup), but also because Indian all-rounders, and all-rounders of such quality, in general, are not very easy to find.
The Warriorz could still use their Right To Match (RTM) card to bring Deepti back to the franchise but her release has put other teams on high alert heading into the auction. What happens at an auction table, especially when battling for a player as gifted as Deepti and for a player who can win matches with bat or ball or both, is anyone’s guess. But chances are that the winning bid will not be very kind on the franchises’ purses.
Meg Lanning
No further explanations needed, really. But for the purpose of simplification, let’s indulge in some. Lanning has won almost every title on offer in women’s cricket. She is also one of the greatest captains to have ever played the sport and when on song, she is a world-class batter. Some would say that she is slightly above world-class too.
Lanning has retired from international cricket, though. While for most others, that may have been an impediment, Lanning seems to be going from strength to strength. She has plundered runs for fun in the WBBL, and was in pristine touch during the Women’s Hundred as well.
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View AllShe may not have won the WPL yet, but she did lead the Delhi Capitals to three successive finals. And with how the law of averages work, and given Lanning’s pedigree, 2026 might just be the year she crosses the finish line. Meaning that teams, especially those who have not won the WPL yet, may be queuing up for her.
Alyssa Healy
Speaking of Australian top-order batters who also captain their side…there may not be many better than Healy. Her captaincy has been criticised at times, mostly because Australia have not won a world title under her stewardship (yes, that is the standards they have), but she often leads from the front.
As an opener, her power-game is perhaps still unmatched in the women’s game. She loves batting in India too, and does not have shabby numbers in the WPL either. At the recently concluded Women’s World Cup, she did indicate that she won’t make it to the next edition, but in the shortest format, she still has lots to offer.
The Indian women’s cricket ecosystem, anyway, lacks impactful wicket-keeper batters. That list has further been thinned by Richa Ghosh’s retention. Healy, though, could tick three boxes (batter, keeper, captain) for most teams, and that might make her a very sought-after player at the auction.
Phoebe Litchfield
Another Australian and while this may be getting a little boring now, they are just that good. Unlike Healy and Lanning, though, Litchfield has most of her career in front of her. At 22, she has already achieved plenty, including mustering a knockout World Cup hundred against India earlier this year.
She was also the MVP as the Northern Superchargers cantered to the Women’s Hundred crown in 2025, and her stroke-play, more often than not, is breath-taking. Her switch hits may have generated a great chunk of the attention but she can also play around the dial. She can open the batting and can bat in the middle order, which makes her a very flexible batting option.
Given her age, there is a huge upside to whoever acquires her at the auction. And if she delivers on her promise, like she has threatened to in recent times, she could be a proper long-term player for any and every franchise in the WPL.
Laura Wolvaardt
Wolvaardt, simply put, is one of the best batters in the world. As she showed at the Women’s World Cup in India. She has enhanced her six-hitting game too and that, coupled with her silky off-side stroke-play, has made her a very well-rounded batter.
It, thus, feels a little counter-intuitive that she has not set the WPL alight yet. But this could finally be her moment to shine. That she also has considerable experience of captaining a side and taking those teams deep into tournaments should also bode well, and might mean that several teams vie for her at the auction.
And like Litchfield, she can be a long-term option. Not to mention the immediate value she will provide to almost every team in the league.
Sophie Ecclestone
The best T20I bowler in the world. The rankings say so. The eye-test, unless those eyes are very biased, will also say so. There is absolutely no denying Ecclestone’s quality. She can get the ball to drift in. She can get it to spin and bounce. And she can land it on a dime. All while knowing what the batter is going to do.
It was, thus, a surprise that the UP Warriorz let her go. They still have RTM cards available to buy her back, but her release has given other teams a chance to bring her on board. And if her exemplary left-arm spin was not enough, she has also evolved as a power-hitter in recent times.
Maybe not quite an all-rounder yet. But you can never bet against Ecclestone outdoing herself and adding more strings to her bow. Which, of course, is an enviable trait. Especially in a tournament that is often decided by fine margins.
Nadine de Klerk
There may have been a possibility that those on Indian shores were oblivious to de Klerk’s all-round talents a couple of months ago. But after October 9, 2025 in Vishakhapatnam, almost every Indian knows what she is capable of. And had India not gone on to win the Women’s World Cup, de Klerk may have assumed cult villain status. Another validation of how special a cricketer she is. And how she can win games out of nowhere.
De Klerk can bowl at the death, and has an assortment of cutters and slower balls. She can also hit sixes regularly, as India would testify, and it is, hence, a touch surprising that she has not made a splash at the WPL yet.
But like her South African captain, she is entering the peak of her career. And with all-rounders always in demand, especially in the shortest format, it would not be outrageous to imagine de Klerk fetching a lucrative deal at the auction.