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30-11-2025
Bureau Report
NEW DELHI: All-rounder Deepti Sharma, whose player-of-the-tournament performance helped India win the World Cup earlier this month, fetched the highest price at the Women’s Premier League (WPL) auction, while Australia captain Alyssa Healy, one of the marquee players up for grabs, went unsold.
UP Warriorz used a “right to match” option to equal Delhi Capitals’ bid of 32 million rupees ($358,000) to re-sign 28-year-old Sharma on Thursday, as five franchises spent a total of 408 million rupees ($4.5 million) to sign 67 players ahead of the fourth edition of the Twenty20 league.
New Zealand’s Amelia Kerr was the second most expensive player at the auction held in New Delhi, snapped up for 30 million rupees by defending champions Mumbai Indians, for whom she has played since 2023.
Mumbai, two-time winners of the Indian T20 league, have retained five players, the maximum number of pre-auction retentions allowed by the WPL, including India captain Harmanpreet Kaur, as they looked to keep their core intact ahead of the title defence but wicketkeeper-batter Healy, who had played for UP last year, was the shock of the evening as she was the only one among the eight marquee players to go unsold.
UP also splurged on two more former Delhi players, picking up Indian all-rounder Shikha Pandey for 24 million rupees and Australian top-order batter Meg Lanning for 19 million rupees.
New Zealand all-rounder Sophie Devine, who skipped the WPL’s 2025 edition, was the subject of an intense bidding war involving three teams including her former side Royal Challengers Bengaluru, before being secured by Gujarat Giants for 20 million rupees. Delhi, who have lost three WPL finals in a row, were restrained with their bidding after retaining five players, including Indian internationals Jemimah Rodrigues and Shafali Verma.
They signed Shree Charani and Chinelle Henry for 13 million rupees each, and also picked up South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt for 11 million rupees.
The WPL’s 2026 edition is set to take place from January 9 to February 5 in Navi In Mumbai and Vadodara. The final will take place two days before India co-hosts the men’s T20 World Cup with Sri Lanka.
Mumbai Indians claimed their second Women’s Premier League (WPL) title on Saturday, defeating Delhi Capitals by eight runs, thanks to skipper Harmanpreet Kaur’s 66-run knock and an all-round performance from Nat Sciver-Brunt.
Despite qualifying for their third consecutive final, Delhi Capitals faltered in a 150-run chase as Mumbai’s bowlers struck at regular intervals in a thrilling contest.
The loss left many of the Delhi squad, including all-rounder Marizanne Kapp, in tears.
“We haven’t been able to put our best performance in the final on the board, which is disappointing but that’s cricket. It has just not happened for us,” an emotional Delhi skipper Meg Lanning said.
“We are bitterly disappointed, we put ourselves in a good position but couldn’t finish it off.” Sciver-Brunt claimed three wickets while Amelia Kerr, the purple cap winner for the most number of wickets in the season (18), claimed two wickets to lead the team to a dominant win.
Kapp (40) and Jemimah Rodrigues (30) were the only two Delhi batters to offer any serious resistance, but got little support as wickets tumbled around them.
Delhi, who won the toss, started strongly and removed openers Hayley Matthews and Yastika Bhatia cheaply, leaving Mumbai, champions in the competition’s inaugural season, reeling at 20-2 at the end of the powerplay.
