WPL 2026 expected to soar to new heights; tournament perfect opportunity for India to finalise T20 World Cup squad

WPL 2026 comes at the right time. It is being played after the 50-over World Cup win, but comes a few months before the T20 World Cup.

The fourth edition of the Women's Premier League (WPL) is here. The first three seasons managed to grab a few eyeballs, but it would be no understatement to predict that the latest edition, which gets underway on Friday, January 9, with the opening match between the Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), has the potential to be the biggest and grandest of them all. And why shouldn't it? The WPL 2026 is being played on the back of India's maiden World Cup win in November, when Harmanpreet Kaur’s India defeated South Africa in the final at the Dr DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.

WPL 2026 will begin on Friday. (PTI)

The competition comes at the right time. It is being played after the 50-over World Cup win, but comes a few months before the T20 World Cup, set to be played in the UK from June 12 to July 5. The WPL 2026 will be a perfect opportunity for the selectors to keep an eye on the domestic Indian cricketers and determine whether they can be included in the Indian squad.

“Winning the T20 World Cup would be great. We won the ODI World Cup, but there are a lot of things in the team we need to work on. We really want to sit back and say, 'Yeah, we are the best team in the world and the world's No. 1 team'. I feel we still have a lot of things to improve on. I'm sure WPL is going to bridge that gap for us in the coming years,” said India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana, also the RCB captain, during the official pre-match press conference.

"It's always exciting to see talent coming up in WPL, so I would never say that the doors are always closed and no one's going to get anything out of this. If there's an exciting talent and someone has enjoyed an extraordinary season, I'm sure there will be a chance for the T20 World Cup. I'm sure that everyone knows that if you actually have a good WPL, especially in the T20 format, you always have a chance.”

As for whether the 50-over World Cup triumph has had any tangible on-ground impact, the answer is a resounding yes. During the inaugural season of the WPL, matches were free to attend, but that has now changed. Fans are required to buy tickets if they want to watch the action up close and personal, marking a clear shift in how the league is being valued and consumed.

However, not everything is hunky-dory. While the on-ground buzz around the WPL is noticeably higher this season than in the previous three, it also underlines a missed opportunity for the BCCI to stage the tournament in a home-and-away format. Instead, WPL 2026 will be restricted to just two venues: Vadodara and Navi Mumbai.

The first three seasons of the WPL may have been about showing the world that India possesses a rich and ready talent pool. The next few years, however, must be about asserting dominance, leaving a lasting imprint on the global stage and proving that the team will not take a backward step against any opposition.

How do the teams stack up?

The squads of all five teams – Mumbai Indians, RCB, Gujarat Giants, Delhi Capitals, and UP Warriorz – are significantly different from those in the previous three seasons, as all teams have undergone revamping due to the main auction conducted last year.

Delhi Capitals, Mumbai Indians and RCB retained their core, but Gujarat and UP Warriorz opted for a major overhaul and are completely revamped. Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur will continue to lead RCB and MI, but UP, Gujarat, and Delhi will all have different captains.

Meg Lanning, who led Delhi to three finals in the WPL, has made the switch to the UP Warriorz, and she will try to bring the team some glory as she forms a partnership with head coach Abhishek Nayar. She will also have the shoulders of experienced Deepti Sharma to fall back upon.

Delhi have appointed Jemimah as their skipper for the WPL 2026 edition. The Delhi team appears strong on paper, boasting the likes of Shafali Verma, Marizanne Kapp, and Laura Wolvaardt in their ranks.

However, their foreign star power is low this time around, following the last-minute pullouts by Ellyse Perry (RCB) and Annabel Sutherland (DC). Australia's white-ball captain, Alyssa Healy, was also not picked by any franchise in the auction. Ultimately, it must be noted that the Mumbai Indians once again start as the firm favourites, considering they have retained the bulk of their core for the WPL 2026 edition.

Here are the full squads of WPL 2026 teams:

Delhi Capitals: Jemimah Rodrigues (captain), Taniya Bhatia, M Mamatha, Laura Wolvaardt, Shafali Verma, Marizanne Kapp, Chinelle Henry, Lizelle Lee, Alana King, Lucy Hamilton, Sneh Rana, Minnu Mani, Shree Charani, Deeya Yadav, Niki Prasad, Nandani Sharma.

Gujarat Giants: AshleighGardner (captain), Beth Mooney, Yastika Bhatia, Shivani Singh, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Sophie Devine, Georgia Wareham, Kim Garth, Renuka Singh Thakur, Titas Sadhu, Tanuja Kanwar, Kashvee Gautam, Kanika Ahuja, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Bharti Fulmali, Happy Kumar, Anushka Sharma, Ayushi Soni

Mumbai Indians: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), G Kamalini, Rahila Firdous, Hayley Matthews, Amanjot Kaur, Amelia Kerr, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Nicola Carey, Shabnim Ismail, Poonam Khemnar, Milly Illingworth, S Sajana, Nicola Carey, Sanskriti Gupta, Saika Ishaque, Kranthi Reddy, Triveni Vasistha.

RCB: Smriti Mandhana (captain), Richa Ghosh, Georgia Voll, Gautami Naik, Grace Harris, Nadine de Klerk, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, Arundhati Reddy, Lauren Bell, D Hemalatha, Sayali Satghare, Prema Rawat, Linsey Smith, Kumar Prathyoosha.

UP Warriorz: Meg Lanning (captain), Shweta Sehrawat, Shipra Giri, Kiran Navgire, Harleen Deol, Phoebe Litchfield, Deepti Sharma, Deandra Dottin, Sophie Ecclestone, Asha Sobhana Joy, Shikha Pandey, Kranti Gaud, Pratika Rawal, Simran Shaikh, Chloe Tryon, G Trisha, Suman Meena, Charli Knott.