New Delhi (TIP)- India‘s World Cup-winning allrounder Deepti Sharma finished as the highest paid player at the WPL 2026 Mega Auction, returning to UP Warriorz for INR 3.2 crore through the RTM card after Delhi Capitals made the only opening bid at her base price. The deal made her the joint second-most expensive signing in WPL Auction history. Amelia Kerr was the next big buy of the day, with Mumbai Indians spending over 52% of their purse to buy her at INR 3 crore. Shikha Pandey also enjoyed a big payday, joining UP Warriorz for INR 2.4 crore after a long bidding war with Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Other individuals with paychecks of one crore or more included Sophie Devine (INR 2 crore to Gujarat Giants), Meg Lanning (INR 1.9 crore to UPW), Phoebe Litchfield (INR 1.2 crore to UPW), Asha Sobhana (INR 1.1 crore to UPW), Laura Wolvaardt (INR 1.1 crore to DC), and DC’s allrounder pair of Sree Charani and Chinelle Henry, both at INR 1.3 crore. Georgia Wareham rounded off that group with a INR 1 crore deal at GG.
A total of 67 players were sold at the mega auction, including 23 overseas players, with teams spending INR 40.8 crore overall.
There were no bids for the likes of Alyssa Healy, Heather Knight, Amy Jones, Alana King, Heather Graham, Uma Chetry and Marufa Akhter.
UPW, coming in with the biggest purse and four RTM cards, expectedly controlled the key moments across the day. They used RTMs to bring back Deepti at a record bid and Sophie Ecclestone at a steal price of INR 85 lakh after DC briefly held the bid. They then outbid DC for Lanning at INR 1.9 crore, before staving off competing bids to add Litchfield at INR 1.2 crore and legspinner Asha Sobhana at INR 1.1 crore to their squad. They used their remaining couple of RTMs to bring back Kiran Navgire for INR 60 lakh (outbidding RCB) and pacer Kranti Gaud for INR 50 lakh (outbidding DC). Later in the accelerated phases, UPW added Chloe Tryon at INR 30 lakh and USA pacer Tara Norris at INR 10 lakh among others.
MI’s decision to go up to INR 3 crore for Kerr, having already retained five players, left them with limited room later on, but they still managed to bring back Shabnim Ismail for INR 60 lakh.
DC opened strongly by signing Wolvaardt for INR 1.1 crore and then pushed hard for Lanning, Deepti and Ecclestone, only to be beaten each time by UPW’s RTMs and higher bids. But they managed to redeem their day with two quality allrounders in Sree Charani and Chinelle Henry, both at INR 1.3 crore, Sneh Rana at INR 50 lakh and lastly Lizelle Lee for INR 30 lakh at the back end of the auction.
GG landed Sophie Devine for INR 2 crore after a long three-way contest with RCB and DC. They also secured Renuka Singh for INR 60 lakh and Titas Sadhu for INR 30 lakh. GG used RTMs to keep Bharti Fulmali at INR 70 lakh and Kashvee Gautam at INR 65 lakh, then brought back Kim Garth for INR 50 lakh. Later in the day, they added Georgia Wareham for INR 1 crore, along with wicketkeeper Yastika Bhatia for INR 50 lakh.
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