The Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2026 season will be held from January 9 to February 5, spanning two host cities, Navi Mumbai and Vadodara. The dates for the league’s fourth edition were announced by WPL chairman Jayesh George at the opening of the WPL auction in Delhi on Thursday. The DY Patil Stadium, which recently hosted India’s historic Women’s ODI World Cup final victory, will stage the opening match and the entire first leg of the tournament.
Later, the proceedings will be shifting to the Kotambi
Stadium in Vadodara, where the final is scheduled for February 5. This marks the first time the WPL will be played in the January-February window, as the previous three editions were held in February-March, just before the Indian Premier League (IPL). It is also the first season that the league will not clash with major international fixtures.
The auction on November 27 was the first mega auction since the league’s inception in 2023 and featured the introduction of right-to-match (RTM) cards for the franchises. Mumbai Indians (MI) enter the season as defending champions, having won two of the first three editions. Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) lifted the trophy in 2024, while Delhi Capitals (DC) finished as runners-up in all three seasons so far. Ten days after the WPL concludes, the India women’s team will begin a full tour of Australia featuring three T20Is, three ODIs, and a Test match, scheduled from February 15 to March 9.
Earlier this year, the WPL was held across four cities, Lucknow's Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Vadodara's newly-built BCA Kotambi Stadium, Navi Mumbai's iconic Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy, and Bengaluru's historic M. Chinnaswamy Stadium across four phases, marking the closest the league has come to a home-and-away format.
DC co-owner Parth Jindal expressed hope that the WPL would soon receive a longer window to accommodate a full-fledged home-and-away structure. Since its inaugural edition in 2023, the WPL has steadily expanded its geographical footprint. The first season was co-hosted by the Brabourne Stadium and DY Patil Stadium, followed by the second season in Bengaluru and New Delhi.
The full schedule for the 2026 season of the premier tournament will be announced in due course by the BCCI.
