The Women's Premier League 2026 mega auction is just around the corner, and all eyes are on the Royal Challengers Bengaluru Women (RCB Women). After the highs of their historic 2024 title win and the subsequent lows of a forgettable 2025 season, the franchise now faces tough strategic decisions, focusing intently on the RCB Women Retention List.
With a maximum of five retentions permitted, RCB's journey from glory to regrouping tells a story of resilience, emotion, and hope, a powerful reminder that rebuilding is also a vital part of a team's legacy.
RCB Women Retention List 2025
The Women's Premier League (WPL) rules stipulate that each franchise can retain a maximum of five players, which must include a combination of up to three capped Indian players, two overseas players, and two uncapped Indian players. For Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) Women, this means facing tough decisions but also presents a crucial opportunity to keep their proven match-winners.
The main retention strategy for RCB Women will be to retain the core players who are true game-changers and can single-handedly influence a match's outcome. Given that RCB has many such match-winners, picking just five is a challenging task.
Based on this strategy and the official WPL retention rules, here are the five players we feel RCB is most likely to retain ahead of the upcoming auction:
1. Smriti Mandhana (3.50 crore)
It is impossible to imagine RCB Women without Smriti Mandhana. Her leadership, charisma, and commitment to the team's long-term vision make her the most certain retention for the WPL 2026 mega auction.
Despite a modest season with the bat in 2025 (197 runs at a strike rate of 136.81), her strategic captaincy and consistent international form keep her firmly at the top of RCB's priority list.
Mandhana's calm leadership and tactical clarity continue to inspire the young squad. For RCB, she remains not just the face of the franchise but its heartbeat, making her selection non-negotiable in the final RCB Women Retention List.
2. Ellyse Perry (2.50 Crore)
RCB's most reliable performer, Ellyse Perry, remains truly irreplaceable. She was the franchise's top run-scorer in WPL 2025 with an impressive 372 runs at a commanding strike rate of 148.80.
Perry's unique ability to anchor an innings, accelerate at will, and consistently deliver crucial breakthroughs with the ball makes her a complete and invaluable asset. Beyond the phenomenal numbers, Perry brings leadership maturity and vast international experience, qualities that RCB desperately needs as they rebuild and seek balance ahead of the WPL 2026 season.
3. Richa Ghosh (1.75 crore)
When the pressure mounts, Richa Ghosh truly thrives. The young wicketkeeper-batter has rapidly become one of the most explosive finishers in Indian cricket.
Her tally of 230 runs in the WPL 2025 season at an eye-popping strike rate of 175.57 showcased her ability to turn games single-handedly. As a potent power-hitter who can also don the gloves, Richa fits perfectly into RCB's future plans and is a vital retention for the franchise's core.
5. Georgia Wareham (1 Crore)
The Australian all-rounder Georgia Wareham quietly became RCB's best bowler in the 2025 WPL season, taking 12 wickets at an economy rate of 8.79. Her leg-spin variety, combined with handy lower-order hitting, brings the crucial tactical versatility that RCB needs.
If RCB decides to use all five retention slots, Wareham will surely be one of the names sealed early, completing the core of their overseas contingent alongside Ellyse Perry.
5. Prema Rawat (50 lakhs)
Prema Rawat is the one uncapped Indian Player that RCB Women might look to retain ahead of the auction. She played three matches last season and managed to pick up one wicket. Though her retention remains uncertain as RCB Women might potentially retain four players and use one right to match card (RTM) to potentially bring back one of the senior Indian batters or one foreign seam bowling all-rounder into the mix.
