WPL 2026: List of all captains in Women's Premier League upcoming season

WPL 2026 will start on January 9.

The stage is set for the fourth edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL 2026), which will witness a battle among five teams for the trophy. WPL 2026 will begin on January 9 with the opening game between the Mumbai Indians (MI) Women and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) Women.

A total of 22 games will be played during the league, with the final schedule to take place on February 5. Notably, the tournament is conducted in the February-March window every year. However, it has been postponed this time due to the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, scheduled to take place in February and March.

MI Women are the defending champions of the tournament. In the previous edition, the Harmanpreet Kaur & Co. crushed Delhi Capitals (DC) Women in the final by eight runs, stealing their second title in the league’s history.

The WPL 2026 mega auction took place in November 2025, with all five teams buying their preferred players. A total of 67 players, including 23 overseas players, were sold in the auction.

Moreover, two teams have also parted ways with their former captains ahead of the next season. On that note, below are all the captains of WPL 2026.

List of all captains-

1. Harmanpreet Kaur- Mumbai Indians

Harmanpreet Kaur will continue to captain MI Women for the fourth consecutive season. She has done a marvellous job over the last three seasons, leading her team to the title on two occasions.

In the maiden edition in 2023, MI Women crushed DC Women in the final by seven wickets. In the previous edition in 2025, they outplayed DC Women once again in the summit clash, claiming a victory by a close margin of eight runs.

2. Royal Challengers Bengaluru Women- Smriti Mandhana

Smriti Mandhana will continue to captain RCB Women in WPL 2026. She led the side to the title in the 2024 season, where RCB Women won three games in a row in the playoffs to grab the tag of champions.

Since the maiden edition, Mandhana has been retained by the franchise for INR 3.40 crore. Although RCB Women had a poor last season, the management has still shown faith in Mandhana for another season.

3. Gujarat Giants Women- Ashleigh Gardner

Gujarat Giants Women have named Ashleigh Gardner as the captain for WPL 2026. The Australian all-rounder was retained by the franchise for INR 3.50 crore ahead of the mega auction.

She has been part of the team since the maiden edition in 2023. Gardner also captained the team last season and led them to the playoffs, where they were defeated in the Eliminator by MI Women, who went on to become champions.

4. UP Warriorz Women- Deepti Sharma

UP Warriorz Women have named Deepti Sharma as their captain for the 2026 season. Ahead of the mega auction, they parted ways with their former captain, Alyssa Healy. They captured Deepti Sharma in the WPL 2026 auction through the Right to Match (RTM) card for INR 3.20 crore.

Later, she was named the captain for the next season. Notably, Deepti also captained the side in the last season, replacing injured Healy as skipper just ahead of the tournament.

5. Delhi Capitals Women- Jemimah Rodrigues

Jemimah Rodrigues has been appointed as the new captain of the Delhi Capitals Women in WPL 2026. Meg Lanning was the captain of the side in the last three seasons and also led the side to the finals.

Unfortunately, DC Women finished as runners-up on all three occasions. Ahead of the 2026 edition, the franchise released Lanning from their squad and named Jemimah as the new leader.

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