Women's Premier League (cricket)

The Women's Premier League (WPL) is a professional women's Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in India, organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Founded in 2022, it features five city-based franchise teams. The WPL is one of the fastest-growing cricket leagues in the world.

It is held annually since the inaugural season in 2023. Since 2026, it is held between January and February with a dedicated window in the ICC Future Tours Programme.

As of 2026, there have been four seasons of the tournament with Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru having won two titles each.

History + Winners — Women's Premier League Season Winners 2023 Mumbai Indians 2024 Royal Challengers Bengaluru2025 Mumbai Indians (2)2026 Royal Challengers Bengaluru (2)

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, four-match competition held in 2019, 2020 and 2022.

In February 2022, then BCCI President Sourav Ganguly announced plans to establish a women's version of the Indian Premier League (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 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 won the bid for an undisclosed amount. Mumbai Indians were the inaugural winners of the tournament, beating Delhi Capitals in the final.

Organisation The league's structure is based on the structure of the IPL.

Initially there are five teams, each 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 inaugural season of the league took place from 4 to 26 March 2023, and featured 22 matches, all held at Brabourne Stadium and DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai. Tickets were made available free to women during the first season.

The second season of the WPL took place from 23 February to 17 March 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 jersey.

Teams As of the 2026 season, the league has five teams based in cities across India.

TeamCityHome groundDebutCaptainHead coachAppearances Delhi Capitals New Delhi Arun Jaitley Stadium 2023 Jemimah Rodrigues Jonathan Batty 4 Gujarat Giants Vadodara Baroda Cricket Association Stadium Ashleigh Gardner Michael Klinger Mumbai Indians Mumbai Wankhede Stadium Harmanpreet Kaur Lisa Keightley Royal Challengers Bengaluru Bengaluru M. Chinnaswamy Stadium Smriti Mandhana Malolan Rangarajan UP Warriorz Lucknow Ekana Stadium Meg Lanning Abhishek Nayar

Editions and results SeasonWinnerWinning marginRunners-upFinal venueWinning CaptainPlayer of the finalPlayer of the season2023Mumbai Indians134/3 (19.3 overs)Mumbai Indians won by 7 wicketsScorecardDelhi Capitals131/9 (20 overs)Brabourne Stadium, MumbaiHarmanpreet Kaur (MI)Nat Sciver-Brunt (MI)Hayley Matthews (MI)2024Royal Challengers Bengaluru115/2 (19.3 overs)Royal Challengers Bengaluru won by 8 wickets ScorecardDelhi Capitals113 (18.3 overs)Arun Jaitley Stadium, New DelhiSmriti Mandhana (RCB)Sophie Molineux (RCB)Deepti Sharma (UPW)2025Mumbai Indians149/7 (20 overs) Mumbai Indians won by 8 runsScorecardDelhi CapitalsBrabourne Stadium, MumbaiHarmanpreet Kaur (MI)Nat Sciver-Brunt (MI)2026Royal Challengers BengaluruRoyal Challengers Bengaluru won by 6 wickets ScorecardDelhi Capitals203/4 (20 overs)Baroda Cricket Association Stadium, VadodaraSmriti Mandhana (RCB) Sophie Devine (GG)

Performance record Teams2023(5)2024(5)2025(5)2026(5) Delhi Capitals Runners-up Runners-up Runners-up Runners-up Gujarat Giants 5th (League Stage) 5th (League Stage) 3rd (Lost in eliminator) 3rd (Lost in eliminator) Mumbai Indians Champions 3rd (Lost in eliminator) Champions 4th (League Stage) 4th (League Stage) Champions 4th (League Stage) Champions UP Warriorz 3rd (Lost in eliminator) 4th (League Stage) 5th (League Stage)5th (League Stage) +Teams performance across seasonsAppearancesBest resultStatisticsTotalFirstLatestPlayedWonLost NRWin%Delhi Capitals420232026 (2023, 2024, 2025, 2026) 37 22 15 0 0 0 59.45Gujarat Giants (2025, 2026) 34 13 21 38.23Mumbai Indians (2023, 2025) 37 23 14 62.16Royal Challengers Bengaluru (2024, 2026) 35 18 16 1 52.85UP Warriorz (2023) 33 11 21 1 0 34.84

Records and statistics

A summary of the most notable statistical records associated with the tournament is provided below: Batting recordsMost runsNat Sciver-Brunt (MI)1,348Highest score100* (vs RCB, 26 January 2026)Most hundreds1Most fifties12Highest partnershipSmriti Mandhana & Georgia Voll (RCB)165 (vs DC, 5 February 2026)Most sixesShafali Verma (DC)53 Bowling recordsMost wicketsAmelia Kerr (MI)54Best bowling figuresEllyse Perry (RCB)6/15 (vs MI, 12 March 2024) FieldingMost dismissals (wicket-keeper)Richa Ghosh (RCB)36Most catches (fielder)Ashleigh Gardner (GG)23 Team recordsHighest totalUP Warriorz225/5 (20 overs vs RCB, 8 March 2025)Lowest totalGujarat Giants64 (15.1 overs vs MI, 4 March 2023)

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 announced that 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 broadcast in India on the Sports18 TV channel and the JioCinema app, both of which are owned by Viacom18.

The first season of the competition was broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sky Sports, in Australia by Fox Sports Australia, in the United States and Canada by Willow TV and in South Africa by SuperSports.WPL 2023, where to watch live: TV channels & live streaming | Women’s Premier League, Wisden 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 and Disney Star merger in 2025, Star Sports and JioHotstar became the official Television and Digital broadcasters respectively in India.

Women's Premier League (cricket)

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