No Wolvaardt but Gardner & Litchfield must

Following a successful ICC Women’s World Cup 2025, the focus now shifts to the Women’s Premier League (WPL). Within a few hours, teams will announce their official retention lists. The deadline is set for 5:00 PM on November 5, while the auction will take place in New Delhi later this month.

While the likes of Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals might not like the idea of a mega auction, one team that would certainly hope for a better future is Gujarat Giants. Owned by Adani Group, Gujarat have never managed to play a WPL final. In fact, they finished last in the first two seasons. At WPL 2025, they did finish in the top three but were eliminated by eventual champions MI.

Captained by one of the best all-rounders in modern-day cricket, Ashleigh Gardner, GG do boast some great talents but they need to rebuild. And for that, Gujarat cannot make use of all the five retentions available. In fact, they may well retain just three players despite the fact that GG have one of the best overseas player pools.

Predicted Gujarat Giants retention list for WPL 2026 mega auction

Retention 1 – Ashleigh Gardner (Rs 3.50 crore) ✈️
Retention 2 – Phoebe Litchfield (Rs 2.50 crore) ✈️
Retention 3 – Shabnam Shakil (Rs 50 lakh)
RTM: 2
Purse left: Rs 8.50 crore

First, let’s talk about players that are likely to be retained. Captain Ashleigh Gardner, one of the best players at the ICC Women’s World Cup, is too good to be released. In Women’s ODI rankings, she is the No. 1 all-rounder, No. 2 bowler and listed at No. 3 among batters. This is total domination by a single player. Unsurprisingly, no other player has more wickets and more runs than Gardner for Gujarat! Playing here since the inaugural season, Gardner has made 567 runs and also has 25 wickets at 27.20 to her name.

However, GG might end up releasing the second-highest run-getter in Beth Mooney. There’s no doubt that she still remains great; GG should look at younger talent in Phoebe Litchfield. The Australian opener is a massive talent, perhaps the best one amongst youngsters out there. In the Women’s Hundred this season, she ended up as the leading run-getter with 292 runs at 41.71 and 157.84 and was the main reason why Northern Superchargers won the title. Even at the World Cup, she delivered one of the most dominant knocks, hammering 119 (93) against India in the semi-final.

No Wolvaardt or Dottin

Alongside Mooney, two superb talents that Gujarat have to leave out are Laura Wolvaardt and Deandra Dottin. The BCCI has allowed WPL teams to retain a maximum of two overseas players and Gardner and Litchfield are most likely to take up those spots. Hence, GG unfortunately have to leave out South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt, who was the leading run-getter at the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup.

Wolvaardt has taken her game to a whole new level and she might be one of the hot properties at the WPL auction. So could be Dottin, who finally showed her class in the tournament after taking 9 wickets and scoring 142 runs at WPL 2025. She was signed for Rs 1.70 crore.

Among uncapped players, Shabnam Shakil remains the best fit. She made her WPL debut at the age of 16 and now has developed her game even further. Shakil is best known for her pace that exceeds 110 kmph. She even got her India call-up but is yet to represent the country.

Gujarat Giants WPL 2025 squad

Player Name
Beth Mooney✈️	Australia
Ashleigh Gardner✈️	Australia
Laura Wolvaardt✈️	South Africa
Phoebe Litchfield ✈️	Australia
Harleen Deol	India
Dayalan Hemalatha	India
Bharti Fulmali	India
Kashvee Gautam	India
Tanuja Kanwar	India
Meghna Singh	India
Mannat Kashyap	India
Priya Mishra	India
Sayali Satghare	India
Shabnam Shakil	India
Simran Shaikh	India
Deandra Dottin✈️	West Indies
Danielle Gibson✈️	England
Prakashika Naik	India