The Women's Premier League (WPL) is a professional

women's Twenty20 Women's Twenty20 is the use of the Twenty20 match format in women's cricket. In a Twenty20 match, the two teams bat for a single innings each, of a maximum of 20 overs. The wider rules and playing conditions are usually the same for both the m ...

(T20)

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

league in India, organised by the

Board of Control for Cricket in India The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the principal national governing body of the sport of cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at the Cricket Centre in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. BCCI is the wealthiest governing body ...

(BCCI). Founded in 2022, it features five city-based franchise teams. The WPL is one of the most successful cricket leagues in the world. The first season in 2023, saw the

Mumbai Indians The Mumbai Indians are a professional Twenty20, Twenty20 cricket team based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Indians were founded in 2008 and are owned by India's largest Conglomerate (company), co ...

winning the inaugural title. Matches took place in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

and

Navi Mumbai Navi Mumbai (; also known as New Bombay, its official name until 1995) is a large city next to Mumbai, located in the Konkan division of the western Indian state of Maharashtra, on the mainland of India. Navi Mumbai is situated in Thane distr ...

, with 5 franchises participating. The second season in 2024 saw Royal Challengers Bengaluru winning the title. Matches were hosted in

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

and

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

. The third season in 2025 featured Mumbai Indians reclaiming the title after defeating

Delhi Capitals The Delhi Capitals, formerly the Delhi Daredevils, also known as DC, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Delhi that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise is owned by GMR Group and JSW Sports. Its home groun ...

by 8 runs at

Brabourne Stadium The Brabourne Stadium is an international cricket stadium in Mumbai in Western India, built in the British Bombay era. It is the home ground of the Mumbai men's and Mumbai women's cricket team, women's cricket teams. It can accommodate 50,000 pe ...

. Matches were hosted in

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

and

Vadodara Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is a city situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district. The city is named for its abundance of banyan ...

History

The first major women's Twenty20 competition in India was the Women's T20 Challenge. This started as a single-match tournament in 2018, and was expanded to a three-team, three-match competition held in 2019, 2020 and 2022.. In February 2022, then BCCI President

Sourav Ganguly Sourav Chandidas Ganguly (; natively spelled as Gangopadhyay; born 8 July 1972), also known as Dada (meaning ''"elder brother"'' in Bengali language, Bengali), is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer. He is popularly called the ...

announced plans to establish a women's version of the

Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in India, organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Founded in 2007, it features ten city-based Professional sports league organization, fr ...

(IPL), the major men's Twenty20 franchise cricket competition in India, replacing the Women's T20 Challenge. By August plans were more advanced and in October the BCCI announced that they were considering a five-team tournament which would take place in March 2023. This league was informally known as the Women's Indian Premier League; then BCCI Secretary

Jay Shah Jay Amitbhai Shah (born 22 September 1988) is an Indian cricket administrator and businessman, and the Chairman of the International Cricket Council ( ICC) since December 2024. He was the President of the Asian Cricket Council, establishing h ...

clarified that the BCCI officially named it the Women's Premier League. On 28 January 2023, the BCCI invited bids for the league's title sponsorship rights until 2027.

Tata Group The Tata Group () is an Indian multinational conglomerate group of companies headquartered in Mumbai. Established in 1868, it is India's largest business conglomerate, with products and services in over 160 countries, and operations in 100 c ...

won the bid for an undisclosed amount.

were the inaugural winners of the tournament, beating

in the final.

Organisation

The league's structure is based on the structure of the IPL. Initially there are five teams, with sides playing against each other in a double round robin format, and the three teams finishing with the most points entering the playoff stages of the competition. The Board plans to increase the number of matches and franchises in future seasons if the league is a success. The first season of the league took place from 4 March to 26 March 2023, and featured 22 matches, all held at

and

DY Patil Stadium The DY Patil Stadium (officially known as Dr. DY Patil Sports Stadium) is a multi-purpose sports arena in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Owned by Marathi politician Dnyandeo Yashwantrao Patil, it is based in the D.Y. Patil Sports Academy ...

in Mumbai. Tickets were made available free to women during the first season. The second season of the WPL took place from February 23 to March 17, 2024. The tournament maintained its structure with five teams competing in a double round-robin format, followed by playoffs. Matches were held at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru and the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. Royal Challengers Bengaluru clinched their first title by defeating Delhi Capitals in the final. Ellyse Perry led the season in runs with 347, while Shreyanka Patil topped the wickets chart with 13 dismissals. The league's mascot, Shakti, is a tigress wearing a sky blue cricket uniform.

Teams

As of the 2025 season, the league has five teams based in cities across India.

Editions and results

Performance record

Records and statistics

A summary of the most notable statistical records associated with the tournament is provided below: * Source
ESPNcricinfo

Awards

Financial background

The BCCI intends to distribute 80% of the profits from the competition among the franchise owners during the first five years. For the next five seasons, 60% of the profits will be shared, and from seasons 11 to 15, 50% of the profits will be distributed. Additionally, 80% of the revenue from the central licensing rights for the competition will be shared with the franchises. Franchises will also generate revenue through merchandise, ticket sales and advertising.

Player auction

The first auction to purchase players for each franchise was held on 13 February 2023 at Mumbai.Nagraj Gollapudi (2023
Charlotte Edwards to coach Mumbai's WPL team
ESPNcricinfo, 5 February 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2023. Around 1,500 players registered their names. Each franchise had to spend and had to purchase between 15 and 18 players, six of whom could be overseas players. The base price of an uncapped player at the first auction was between and . For capped players it was between and . In future seasons the purse size for each franchise will be increased by each year. In the first auction a total of was spent to purchase 87 players. Smriti Mandhana was the most expensive player purchased in the initial auction; she signed for Royal Challengers Bengaluru for and was appointed as the team's captain.

Broadcasting

In January 2023,

Viacom18 Viacom18 Media Private Limited is an independent Indian media conglomerate, part of JioStar. It is owned by Reliance Industries and Bodhi Tree Systems. The Organisation had various channels and content production studios in India. Following ...

announced it had acquired the global media rights for TV and digital broadcasts of the tournament. The contract run for five years and was worth 951 crore. The initial season of the league is broadcasting in India on the Sports18 TV channel and the

JioCinema JioCinema was an Indian subscription video-on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Viacom18. The service was merged with Disney+ Hotstar on 14 February 2025, to form JioHotstar. In April 2022, the service was brought under Relianc ...

app, both of which are owned by Viacom18. The first season of the competition was broadcast in the United Kingdom on

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

, in Australia by

Fox Sports Australia Fox Sports Australia Pty Limited (formerly Premier Media Group Pty Limited) is the division of Foxtel that owns and operates the Fox Sports television networks and digital properties in Australia. The group operates nine Fox Sports Channels as w ...

, in the United States and Canada by Willow TV and in South Africa by

SuperSports Central Group is a Thai multinational conglomerate founded by Tiang and Samrit Chirathivat in 1947, and still privately owned by the Chirathivat family . Its publicly-traded subsidiaries include Central Retail, Central Pattana (commercial re ...

.WPL 2023, where to watch live: TV channels & live streaming , Women’s Premier League
''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

online'', 2 March 2023. Retrieved 5 March 2023. In New Zealand it is aired by Sky Sport, in Malaysia and Hong Kong by Astro Cricket while in mainland China by Star Sports. Furthermore in the Caribbean islands is live on Sportsmax tv. After the

Viacom 18 Viacom18 Media Private Limited is an independent Indian media conglomerate, part of JioStar. It is owned by Reliance Industries and Bodhi Tree Systems. The Organisation had various channels and content production studios in India. Following th ...

and

Disney Star Disney Star (also known as JioStar), registered as JioStar India Private Limited, is an Indian media conglomerate joint venture owned with a share of 16.34% by Reliance Industries, 46.82% by Viacom18 and 36.84% by Disney India. On 14 Nove ...

merger in 2025, Star Sports and

JioHotstar Disney+ Hotstar, also known as JioHotstar or simply Hotstar, is an Indian subscription video-on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Disney Star. The brand was introduced as Hotstar for a streaming service carrying content from Di ...

became the official Television and Digital broadcasters respectively in India.

References

External links

Google Doodle celebrates the rise of women’s cricket with the 2025 Premier League
{{Navboxes, list= {{Cricket in India {{Twenty20 cricket domestic competitions {{Sports leagues of India Women's Premier League (cricket) Twenty20 cricket leagues Professional cricket leagues Cricket leagues in India Recurring sporting events established in 2023 Women's sports leagues in India Women's Twenty20 cricket competitions Professional sports leagues in India Sports leagues established in 2023