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How the WPL Auction Works Guide

By · Published · Sources

Every WPL auction looks the same on television. A name is read out, paddles go up, a price climbs, and the hammer falls. Underneath sit two very different kinds of auction, a retention system that decides most squads before the auction starts, and squad rules that can make one player worth far more to one team than to another.

Once you understand those layers, the 2027 auction on 28 October 2026 stops looking random.9 min read

Mini vs mega: the reset and the top up

Think of the mega auction as a reset and the mini auction as a top up.

In a mega auction, most players return to the pool. Retentions are limited, Right to Match cards are in play, and teams rebuild the heart of their squads in one day. Prices for the best players peak here because every team needs starters at the same time and starts with real money.

In a mini auction, most work is already done. Teams hold the bulk of their squads, release a smaller group, and return to fill specific gaps: a finisher, a second wicketkeeper, an Indian seamer, one more overseas option. The purse is smaller, slots are fewer, and bidding is driven by scarcity in one or two roles.

The 2027 auction is a mini. The mega reset happened ahead of the 2026 season, on 27 November 2025 in New Delhi. Retentions then closed again on 28 September 2026 ahead of the 2027 mini, with 63 players retained including 23 overseas. Only 27 slots remain for a pool of 146 players. In a mega auction, a good player will usually find a team somewhere. In a mini, a good player can find no team at all, simply because nobody has her role open.

Retentions and the mega cycle slabs

Retentions let teams keep players without bidding for them again. Before a mega auction, each team can retain a limited number at fixed slab prices taken from its purse.

For the mega cycle leading into 2026, the slabs were ₹3.5 crore for retention 1, ₹2.5 crore for retention 2, ₹1.75 crore for retention 3, ₹1 crore for retention 4 and ₹0.5 crore for retention 5. A team could retain a maximum of 5 players, with a maximum of 3 capped Indian players, a maximum of 2 overseas players and a maximum of 2 uncapped Indian players. A five player retention set had to include an uncapped Indian player.

Those limits keep the league balanced. Without them, one strong team could keep every star forever.

Smriti Mandhana shows the top end. She holds the auction record at ₹3.40 crore from the 2023 auction for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, and was retained ahead of 2026 at ₹3.50 crore. That is the price of certainty: you pay the slab so nobody else gets to bid.

Right to Match: winning the bid, losing the player

Right to Match, or RTM, only belongs to the mega part of the cycle. There is no RTM storyline in the 2027 mini. But you cannot understand the current squads without it.

It works like this. A team releases a player but keeps an RTM card for her. Other teams bid as normal. When bidding ends, the original team can match the final price and take the player back. If it declines, the winning bidder signs her at that price.

The clearest example is Deepti Sharma at the 2026 mega auction. Delhi Capitals pushed the bidding, but UP Warriorz held the RTM and matched at ₹3.20 crore. Deepti stayed with UP Warriorz at a price set by the market, and ₹3.20 crore made her the top buy of that auction. Delhi discovered the price, and UP Warriorz paid it.

For the holding team, RTM is a second chance. For the bidding team, it is a warning: winning the paddle war is not always winning the player. RTM cards returned at the 2026 mega auction. In 2027, if a team wants a released player, including its own, it must win the bidding outright.

Base prices: where bidding starts

Every player has a base price, the minimum at which bidding starts. In the 2027 pool the bands are ₹50 lakh (2 players), ₹40 lakh (4), ₹30 lakh (30), ₹20 lakh (4) and ₹10 lakh (106).

Players set their base price when they register, and it is a judgement call. Set it high and you signal confidence and join the names teams plan for early, but you risk pricing yourself out of a mini auction where purses are small. Set it low and any team can open the bidding, hoping competition carries you higher.

Base price is not final price. A ₹10 lakh player who fills a rare role for two teams can sell for many times her base. A ₹50 lakh player whose role nobody needs can go unsold. In a mini auction, high base prices are a filter. Delhi Capitals hold ₹1.10 crore for 5 slots and Royal Challengers Bengaluru hold ₹1.15 crore for 5 slots, so a single top band battle already commits a large share of what they have left.

Squad rules: purse, size and overseas limits

Every bid must fit inside the squad rules. Each team builds inside a total purse of ₹15 crore. Squads run from 15 to a maximum of 18 players, with a maximum of 6 overseas players per squad. In the playing XI, a team can field a maximum of 4 overseas players, with one exception covered next.

These numbers create the tension. Take a team with ₹1.15 crore and 5 slots: one signing at ₹60 lakh leaves about ₹55 lakh for 4 places. Compare UP Warriorz, with ₹3.75 crore for 8 slots. Purse is flexibility, and in a double round robin season of 8 league matches per team, cover for injuries matters as much as the first XI.

The Associate rule and the 5th overseas in the XI

The most distinctive WPL rule concerns Associate players, from Associate member nations. The XI limit is 4 overseas players, but a 5th overseas player is allowed if she is from an Associate nation. She still counts within the squad limit of 6 overseas, but on match day she gives her team an extra overseas option without dropping one of its four main overseas stars.

Tara Norris brings the rule to life. The USA left arm seamer was the first Associate player to feature in the WPL and the first bowler to take a five wicket haul in the league, 5 for 29 for Delhi Capitals against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2023, with Ellyse Perry, Heather Knight and Richa Ghosh among her victims. She played 5 WPL matches, all in 2023, taking 7 wickets at an economy of 8.09. Signed by UP Warriorz for 2026, she missed the season on USA duty at the T20 World Cup Qualifier.

On 12 October 2026 Norris was traded from UP Warriorz to Mumbai Indians for ₹10 lakh in an all cash trade. Because she is an Associate player, Mumbai can field her as a 5th overseas player in the XI. A left arm seam option with that flexibility is worth far more than the trade figure suggests. It is also why Associate names at ₹10 lakh in the 2027 pool, including Sarah Bryce and Kathryn Bryce of Scotland and Esha Oza of the UAE, deserve attention.

The accelerated round

Not every player sells when her name first comes up. Teams pass early to save purse for a later target, to see how overseas slots develop, or because they are not ready to commit to that role yet.

The accelerated round is the faster closing phase that gives unsold players a second pass. After the main sets, teams nominate unsold players they still want, and those names return at pace, often at or near base price, while the last slots are filled. It rewards preparation. A team that tracked the whole pool can move quickly for a player it rated before the day began.

It will not rescue most of the 2027 pool. There are still only 27 slots, so 119 players will go unsold overall. The accelerated round decides who gets the last few places. For uncapped Indian players at ₹10 lakh, it can be the difference between a first WPL contract and another year outside the league.

Why scarcity inflates mini auctions: the Kerr example

If mini auction purses are smaller, why do individual prices sometimes look so high? The answer is scarcity. In a mega auction, if you miss one all rounder, another comes in the next set. In a mini, if two teams need the same profile and only one player truly fits it, both must keep bidding or accept a weaker plan. The price reflects the gap to the next best option, not just the player alone.

Amelia Kerr in 2026 is the textbook case. Kerr drew a 26 bid war, with Mumbai Indians and UP Warriorz central to the fight, before Mumbai signed her for ₹3.00 crore. Twenty six bids tell you two teams had decided she changed their XI, as a leg spinner, middle order batter and fielder in one package, and neither wanted to rebuild its plan around a lesser fit.

Analysis: the same logic applies in 2027 to thin roles such as top overseas all rounders, proven Indian wicketkeeper batters and death bowlers, where UP Warriorz with the largest purse hold a clear edge. In roles with plenty of supply, teams can stay patient. Reading supply by role, not just big names, is the skill that separates a calm auction from a panicked one.

Purse as strategy

Stop thinking of the purse as a score and think of it as choices. A team with money and slots, like UP Warriorz, can bid early, switch roles or wait and still act. A team with slots but little money, like Mumbai Indians in 2027, must identify its low price targets precisely. A team with few slots, like Gujarat Giants with ₹1.25 crore for 3 slots, can target quality, but every signing has to be usable.

Good strategy also leaves room for the unexpected, and for walking away to split the money across two solid signings instead.

Run an auction yourself on CricArcade

These ideas become real when you sit in the auction chair. Retention slabs stop being numbers when you choose who to keep. RTM stops being a definition when another bidder sets the price for your player. Scarcity stops being a theory when the one all rounder you need draws bid after bid and your purse shrinks.

Try it in the new WPL mode on CricArcade. Run the auction, build your squad, play the season in your browser, free, no download: cricarcade.com/wpl. Then carry the same instincts into IPL Dynasty, where you run a T20 auction and season in the IPL format: cricarcade.com/ipl-dynasty. Purse discipline, role scarcity and knowing when to walk away matter in both.

Limitations

  • This explainer is written as of 26 October 2026 and describes the mega cycle retention slabs, Right to Match use and squad rules leading into 2026, and the mini auction position ahead of 2027.
  • Auction procedures on the day, including the exact running of any accelerated phase, are run by the league and auctioneer. This guide explains that phase in general terms.
  • Examples use verified cases named here: Deepti Sharma at ₹3.20 crore via RTM in 2026, Amelia Kerr at ₹3.00 crore after a 26 bid contest in 2026, and Tara Norris and her ₹10 lakh trade to Mumbai Indians in October 2026.
  • Analysis labelled as analysis is opinion about auction strategy, not confirmed team strategy.
  • Retention and purse figures for 2027 are from the lists closed on 28 September 2026 and the Norris trade on 12 October 2026.

Sources

  • WPL mega auction, 27 November 2025, New Delhi, and mega cycle retention slabs of ₹3.5 crore, ₹2.5 crore, ₹1.75 crore, ₹1 crore and ₹0.5 crore, maximum 5 retentions, maximum 3 capped Indian, maximum 2 overseas and maximum 2 uncapped Indian players.
  • Deepti Sharma Right to Match case, 2026: Delhi Capitals bid, UP Warriorz matched at ₹3.20 crore, the top buy of that auction.
  • Amelia Kerr signing, 2026: Mumbai Indians, ₹3.00 crore, after a 26 bid contest with UP Warriorz.
  • WPL squad rules: ₹15 crore purse, maximum 18 per squad, maximum 6 overseas per squad, maximum 4 overseas in the XI with a 5th allowed if she is from an Associate nation.
  • Tara Norris record and trade: first Associate player in the WPL, first five wicket haul in the league with 5 for 29 for Delhi Capitals against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2023, 5 matches, 7 wickets at economy 8.09, traded from UP Warriorz to Mumbai Indians on 12 October 2026 for ₹10 lakh.
  • WPL 2027 mini position: 146 players for 27 slots, 63 retained including 23 overseas, retentions closed 28 September 2026, auction on 28 October 2026 in Kochi.