New Delhi, Oct 22: The Women’s Premier League (WPL) mega auction ahead of the 2026 season is set to be held in the last week of November in New Delhi, tournament sources told IANS on Wednesday.

IANS understands that there was a toss-up between New Delhi and Goa as the WPL mega auction venue in the aforementioned window. But in the end, New Delhi emerged as the top choice as the hosts for the mega auction set to be held in the WPL for the first time.

The same has been communicated by the WPL committee to the five franchises – two-time winners Mumbai Indians, 2024 winners Royal Challengers Bengaluru, three-time runners-up Delhi Capitals, UP Warriorz and Gujarat Giants.

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“It is most likely during the last week of November that the WPL mega auction will happen. But nothing has been confirmed on the exact date of the auction and its expected to be finalised in some time from now. Once its done, the same will be communicated to the teams,” further said sources.

It is also understood that the auction proceedings will be completed in just one day, considering the number of teams in the competition. As per a previous intimation in October, the retention deadline is November 5, with five players to be retained per team.

Each franchise will be allowed to retain a maximum of three capped Indian players, two overseas players, and two uncapped Indian players. If a team chooses to retain five players, at least one must be an uncapped Indian player.

The auction purse has been set at rs 15 crore. Retention slabs have been defined as follows: Rs 3.5 crore for Player 1, Rs 2.5 crore for Player 2, Rs 1.75 crore for Player 3, Rs 1 crore for Player 4, and Rs 50 lakh for Player 5. The Right to Match (RTM) option will enable franchises to buy back players who were part of their 2025 WPL squads, with a cap of five RTMs per team.

Depending on the number of retained players, the corresponding deductions from the purse will be: Rs 9.25 crore for five players, Rs 8.75 crore for four, Rs 7.75 crore for three, Rs 6 crore for two, and INR 3.5 crore for one. The number of RTMs available will vary accordingly - franchises retaining fewer players will have more RTMs at their disposal. Teams using all five retentions will forfeit the RTM option entirely.

After the retention deadline, franchises will submit players who will head into the auction on November 7, while the final date for the mega auction’s player registration is November 18 and final list of players in the auction will be released on November 20.

(IANS)

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