{"id":25392,"date":"2025-11-27T17:06:37","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T17:06:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/27\/wpl-2026-auction-a-mega-event-of-rtm-fun-83-references-and-ai-prompts-cricket-news\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T17:06:37","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T17:06:37","slug":"wpl-2026-auction-a-mega-event-of-rtm-fun-83-references-and-ai-prompts-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/27\/wpl-2026-auction-a-mega-event-of-rtm-fun-83-references-and-ai-prompts-cricket-news\/","title":{"rendered":"WPL 2026 Auction: A Mega Event Of RTM Fun, \u201883 References, And AI Prompts | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Last Updated:<\/span>

From \u20b93.2cr RTM shocks to \u201883 references, the WPL 2026 Auction delivered pure chaos, charm and high-stakes theatre.<\/h2>\n
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WPL 2026 Auction concludes in New Delhi<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

As far as the life of a sporting league goes, the Women\u2019s Premier League could be seen in that age, right at the end of their teens. It\u2019s when you are an adult but don\u2019t feel like one, so you allow yourself to be a bit more adventurous and instinctive \u2014 knowing the pitfalls of a misstep but not caring much about it anyway.<\/p>\n

That showed in how the WPL 2026 auction went about in New Delhi. Rs 40.8 crores were spent, 67 players acquired, with each team bravely taking its own true direction.<\/p>\n

That meant that some came out on top as the true \u2018winner\u2019 of the six-hour sojourn, like the UP Warriorz, while some really struggled. Gujarat Giants, for one, looked worried about engaging in too many bidding wars, which left them looking a bit clueless at some stages.<\/p>\n

But that didn\u2019t mean the auction wasn\u2019t entertaining.<\/p>\n

In the first half-hour alone, Women\u2019s World Cup player of the match Deepti Sharma nearly went unsold, stunning the entire room. Delhi Capitals almost landed her for her base price of \u20b950 lakh before UP Warriorz dramatically triggered the first-ever RTM in WPL history, matching DC\u2019s final offer of \u20b93.2 crore \u2014 making her the most expensive buy of the day.<\/p>\n

DC were aggressive and overall quite shrewd early on. A lineup of Laura Wolvaardt, Shree Charani, Chinelle Henry, and a next best thing to Deepti in Sneh Rana, all coming in the first couple of hours, was excellent business.<\/p>\n

Their owner, Parth Jindal, was as intrepid, declaring in his press conference that Wolvaardt won\u2019t be the captain because the team wanted an Indian to take it (clear hint at Jemimah Rodrigues?). He also made the biggest announcement of the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am pretty sure BCCI is planning to add more teams in the near future. One should happen soon,” he said. \u201cWith that, we can move to a home-and-away format.”<\/p>\n

The RTM continued to generate regular doses of drama, even as the nascent-stage feeling remained palpable in the auction\u2019s conduct.<\/p>\n

There was a nice touch of music and beating-heart sound effects whenever tension built up. But often, auctioneer Mallika Sagar gave introductions to players which seemed to come right from an AI-generated cheat sheet.<\/p>\n

Perhaps calling Sophie Ecclestone \u2018a left-arm spinner who makes every match her own masterstroke\u2019 had its effect, and UPW were able to make her the steal of the auction for Rs. 80 lakhs.<\/p>\n

World Cup Impact\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The auction began with a mention of India\u2019s 2025 World Cup triumph and a round of applause for the Mumbai Indians and India captain Harmanpreet Kaur. As it happened, the effects of the event continued to show in the proceedings.<\/p>\n

The five varied teams seemed to have moved on from the obsession for Australian players that once existed, which often ignored their form and fit in the team. Alyssa Healy, whose team lost the semi-final to India, was the only one to go unsold in the marquee round, while others like Alana King, Darcie Brown, and Laura Harris also did not find any buyers.<\/p>\n

Mumbai Indians, given the strength of their core, remained clinical, surgically picking key pieces and going big only when needed, like Rs. 3 crore for Amelia Kerr.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery happy to have the same core back. Sometimes people underestimate that because you don\u2019t have to start the competition with so many moving parts,” coach Lisa Keightley said. \u201cWe were pretty much on the limit with Amelia, but we think she\u2019s worth it.”<\/p>\n

Royal Challengers Bengaluru\u2019s tactics were equally clear. They targeted bowlers with specific skills to augment the 2024-winning foundation.<\/p>\n

Their coach, Malolan Rangarajan, was one of the many to reference Kapil Dev and the 1983 men\u2019s World Cup, to explain the growth of the WPL and why the most expensive players\u2019 lists were still dominated by non-Indians.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe IPL is 18 years old,” he said. \u201cWPL is in its nascent stage. What happened in Mumbai will be a catalyst for change. It was Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni and now Harman and the girls. The uncapped players don\u2019t get enough exposure in domestic cricket, which they get at MI, RCB, etc. There will be a slight leaning towards the overseas players for the moment. But soon Indian players will be the most expensive, more generally.”<\/p>\n

Unlike some previous editions of both IPL and WPL, the accelerated part of the auction was truly rapid. This is where the Giants did most of their shopping, making a balanced team with choices like Yastika Bhatia and Georgia Wareham.<\/p>\n

In a way, the mega auction wasn\u2019t entirely mega. There weren\u2019t any record-breaking, eye-watering buys, mostly because the budgets weren\u2019t huge and there were still only five teams.<\/p>\n

The references to men\u2019s cricket were still avoidable, and teams\u2019 strengths were still judged by non-Indian players and coaches. Still, there were enough reminders of the fact that the WPL is growing rapidly, even if it\u2019s not particularly linear.<\/p>\n

Lisa Sthalekar, the Australian mentor of the UPW, summed it up beautifully when asked about the change she felt this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at all of you,” she said, pointing at the mob of media mics and flashing lights. \u201cThat\u2019s the prime example. It used to be one or two of you, and now I am absolutely crowded by recorders!”<\/p>\n

First Published:<\/span><\/p>\n
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November 27, 2025, 22:06 IST<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

News<\/a> cricket<\/a> WPL 2026 Auction: A Mega Event Of RTM Fun, \u201883 References, And AI Prompts<\/span><\/div>\n
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Last Updated:November 27, 2025, 22:06 IST From \u20b93.2cr RTM shocks to \u201883 references, the WPL 2026 Auction delivered pure chaos, charm and high-stakes theatre. WPL 2026 Auction concludes in New Delhi As far as the life of a sporting league goes, the Women\u2019s Premier League could be seen in that age, right at the end…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cricket"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tezgyan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}