WPL 2026 dates announced: Season opens January 9 across two cities
WPL 2026 will kick off on January 9, with Navi Mumbai and Vadodara announced as the official host venues. The new season promises exciting matchups and expanded fan engagement.
WPL (Image Credit: WPL)
Last Updated: 07.34 PM, Nov 27, 2025
The Women's Premier League (WPL) is entering into the fourth season and is all set to start from January 9, as informed by WPL Chairperson Jayesh George during the WPL auction in Delhi. Since the T20 World Cup is scheduled in the February-March window, they didn't want WPL to clash with it and hence, decided to prepone the tournament.
Earlier, WPL was held during the February-March window before the start of the IPL. George also revealed the venues of the WPL 2026 season. The first half of the tournament will be played in Navi Mumbai and the second half, including the finals will be played in Vadodara. This is exciting news for the fans as they can catch their favourite players in the stadiums.
“The upcoming edition of the WPL will be played in Navi Mumbai and the final will be held in Vadodara,” George announced during his opening remarks at the auction. Mumbai Indians (MI) will enter the season as the reigning champions while all the other teams will look forward to competiting against each other to win. Until now, MI, and RCB have won the WPL title.
WPL Auction 2026: Deepti Sharma becomes highest buy of the season
India's star all-rounder, Deepti Sharma becomes the highest buy of the WPL 2026 mega auction. After a dramatic bidding session, Deepti is all set to play for UP Warriorz once again in the upcoming season. When the bidding war started, Delhi Capitals sealed the deal on her base price Rs. 50 lakhs.
But UPW jumped to the occasion and used their Right To Match (RTM) card to bring back the star player into the team. Meanwhile, DC’s franchise owners weren't much satisfied with the RTM and increased the purchase amount to Rs. 3.2 crores. Surprisingly, UPW matched the price and brought Deepti back into their squad.
Where to watch WPL 2026 auction?
Fans can watch the Womens Premier League (WPL) 2026 auction on JioHotstar via OTTplay Premium.