Posted on February 15, 2025
The 2025 Women’s Premier League (WPL), also known as TATA WPL 2025, is the third season of the women’s Twenty20 cricket league organized by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The tournament will take place from February 14 to March 15, 2025, and will feature five teams. The Royal Challengers Bengaluru are the defending champions.
Format
The 2025 WPL will follow a double round-robin format, where each of the five teams plays every other team twice in a home-and-away format. This means a total of 20 matches will be played in the league stage. The top three teams will then qualify for the playoffs based on their aggregate points. The team with the most points automatically qualifies for the final match. The second and third-placed teams will compete in an “Eliminator” match, and the winner of that match will advance to the final.
Venues
The tournament will be held across four venues: Bengaluru, Lucknow, Mumbai, and Vadodara. The stadiums that will host the matches are M. Chinnaswamy Stadium (Bengaluru), Ekana Cricket Stadium (Lucknow), Brabourne Stadium (Mumbai), and Kotambi Stadium (Vadodara). These venues have capacities of 40,000, 50,100, 33,000, and 45,000, respectively. The WPL has introduced two new venues, Vadodara and Lucknow, as it moves towards a full-fledged home-and-away format similar to the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The first leg of the tournament will consist of six games in Vadodara, followed by eight games in Bengaluru. The third leg will feature four games played in Lucknow.
Schedule
The WPL 2025 is scheduled to commence on February 14, 2025, with a match between the Gujarat Giants and Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Kotambi Stadium in Vadodara. The final will be held on March 15, 2025, at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.
Key Matches:
February 14, 2025: Gujarat Giants vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Kotambi Stadium, Vadodara
February 15, 2025: Delhi Capitals vs Mumbai Indians, Kotambi Stadium, Vadodara
March 13, 2025: Eliminator (2nd vs 3rd), Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai
March 15, 2025: Final (Winner of Eliminator vs 1st), Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai
Teams
The five teams participating in the WPL 2025 are:
* Royal Challengers Bangalore
* Gujarat Giants
* UP Warriorz
* Delhi Capitals
* Mumbai Indians
Players to Watch
The WPL has played a key role in the development of Indian cricketers. Players like Shreyanka Patil and Saika Ishaque have used the WPL as a stepping stone to earn national call-ups. Several key overseas stars will be missing this season due to injuries, providing opportunities for Indian players to showcase their abilities.
Deepti Sharma will lead UP Warriorz in the absence of Alyssa Healy, who has opted out due to injury concerns. Ashleigh Gardner takes over as captain for Gujarat Giants from Beth Mooney.
Key Players:
* Shafali Verma (Delhi Capitals)
* Meg Lanning (Delhi Capitals)
* Jemimah Rodrigues (Delhi Capitals)
* Harmanpreet Kaur (Mumbai Indians)
* Nat Sciver-Brunt (Mumbai Indians)
* Amelia Kerr (Mumbai Indians)
* Smriti Mandhana (Royal Challengers Bengaluru)
Team Focus
Delhi Capitals: The two-time runners-up, Delhi Capitals, will aim to win their first title this season.
Mumbai Indians: The winners of the first season, Mumbai Indians, will be looking for greater contributions from their squad to regain their title.
Gujarat Giants: The Giants have struggled in the previous two seasons, finishing at the bottom of the table each time, and will be looking to improve their performance.
Tickets
Information on purchasing tickets for the 2025 Women’s Premier League edition is still awaited. Last season, tickets were sold on Bookmyshow. The BCCI offered free entry for women and girls to the stadium on a first-come-first-serve basis, while men could purchase tickets for INR 100 and INR 400.
Conclusion
With new venues, a focus on domestic talent, and exciting changes in team leadership, the WPL 2025 season is set to be an exciting chapter in women’s cricket.