UP Warriorz head coach Abhishek Nayar spoke on the team's retention strategy for the Women’s Premier League (WPL 2026) auction after releasing star all-rounder Deepti Sharma, despite her recent success at the ICC Women’s World Cup.  

The Indian all-rounder was named Player of the Tournament in the recently finished World Cup, but it appears it wasn't enough for UP Warriorz to keep him for the next Women's Premier League season.

Ahead of the WPL 2026 Auction, the UP-based franchise has retained only young Shweta Sehrawat, while several major names such as Alyssa Healy, Deepti Sharma, Kranti Goud, Sophie Ecclestone, Grace Harris, Tahlia McGrath, and Alana King have been dismissed.

UP Warriorz will enter the WPL 2026 auction with four RTMs at their disposal and the biggest purse of INR 14.50 Crores.

The difficult choices that led to the release of players like Deepti Sharma were explained by UP Warriorz coach Nayar. He emphasized the franchise's plan to start over, maximize their auction proceeds, and put together a team that can win the title while simultaneously keeping chances to attract important players back through the super auction.

“It is always hard when it comes to retention when you have so many good players, leaders in their own rights, and high-performing players. But I think the thought from the franchise was to go in with a clean slate. Have as much money in the purse as possible to make sure we can not only get the players that we feel can win the Championship but also get a lot of these players back in the auction," Nayar said while speaking on JioStar.

Deepti Sharma has played 25 matches in WPL, scoring 507 runs and taking 27 wickets.

Nayar went on to say that the strategy is straightforward: they will enter the auction with a huge purse and sign the players in order to obtain the ideal combination.

“Having said that, it is never easy to make these decisions. Right or wrong, never in doubt is something we believe in. The thought process will be to go in with a full purse and try and create the best combination possible," Nayar said.