It was a historic day for India’s women’s franchise-based cricket league, the Women’s Premier League (WPL), as for the first time for WPL 2026 they held a mega auction, allowing teams to have a complete revamp of their squad. And one team that took the opportunity with both hands was UP Warriors, who only retained one uncapped player and walked into the mega auction with the biggest purse. They took centre stage with big signings, including the RTM used on Deepti Sharma for Rs 3.2 crore, also the most expensive player of the WPL 2026 auction.
WPL 2026: UP Warriors retained players
After three sub-par WPL seasons, UP Warriors decided to revamp their whole squad and as a result they only retained one uncapped player in the form of Shewta Sherat for Rs 50 lakh to go into the auction with the biggest purse of Rs 14.5 crore.
WPL 2026: UP Warriors creates history in first ever mega auction
With the big purse at their disposal, everyone expected UP Warriors to go hard in the WPL 2026 auction and they did exactly that. They broke the Rs 1 crore mark five times, including the record Rs 3.2 crore buy of Deepti Sharma using RTM. She is now the second joint-most expensive buy in WPL history. UP then went big for Shikha Pandey, three-time WPL finalist skipper Meg Lanning, Phoebe Litchfield and Asha Sobhna, aiming for a fortune change in the WPL 2026 edition.
UP Warriors’ all picks in the WPL 2026 mega auction:
| Player | Base Price | Winning Bid | Capped / Uncapped |
| Deepti Sharma | ₹50 Lac | ₹3.2 Cr | Capped |
| Shikha Pandey | ₹40 Lac | ₹2.4 Cr | Capped |
| Meg Lanning | ₹50 Lac | ₹1.9 Cr | Capped |
| Phoebe Litchfield | ₹50 Lac | ₹1.2 Cr | Capped |
| Asha Sobhana | ₹30 Lac | ₹1.1 Cr | Capped |
| Sophie Ecclestone | ₹50 Lac | ₹85 Lac | Capped |
| Deandra Dottin | ₹50 Lac | ₹80 Lac | Capped |
| Kiran Navgire | ₹40 Lac | ₹60 Lac | Capped |
| Harleen Deol | ₹50 Lac | ₹50 Lac | Capped |
| Kranti Gaud | ₹50 Lac | ₹50 Lac | Capped |
| Pratika Rawal | ₹50 Lac | ₹50 Lac | Capped |
| Chloe Tryon | ₹30 Lac | ₹30 Lac | Capped |
| Shipra Giri | ₹10 Lac | ₹10 Lac | Uncapped |
| Simran Shaikh | ₹10 Lac | ₹10 Lac | Uncapped |
| Tara Norris | ₹10 Lac | ₹10 Lac | Uncapped |
| Suman Meena | ₹10 Lac | ₹10 Lac | Uncapped |
| G Trisha | ₹10 Lac | ₹10 Lac | Uncapped |