WPL Auction : Deepti becomes costliest buy

India all-rounder Deepti Sharma emerged as the costliest buy of the 2026 WPL mega auction while other ODI World Cup standouts, Shree Charani and Laura Wolvaardt, also walked away with hefty pay cheques on Thursday. The seasoned Deepti expectedly fetched the big bucks with UP Warriorz using the Right to Match (RTM) card to retain the India all-rounder for a whopping Rs 3.20 crore. She is now the second-highest-paid Indian player in WPL history, just Rs 20 lakh behind Smriti Mandhana. “We definitely expected price to be in the range of what we saw. It’s the premium what you pay for high quality spin bowling all-rounders and there was no doubt that we wanted Deepti back,” UP Warriorz Director of Cricket Operations Kshemal Waingankar said. Mumbai Indians made one of the day’s biggest moves by buying New Zealand all-rounder Amelia Kerr for Rs 3 crore. The 25-year-old was part MI’s title winning runs in 2023 and 2025.