Ash Gardner’s clean hits, Sneh Rana’s comeback, Ellyse Perry’s top form, and more highlights from the league phase of WPL 2025
ESPNcricinfo staff12-Mar-2025A moment that made you go ‘wow’Srinidhi Ramanujam: The first match of WPL 2025. RCB’s Richa Ghosh vs Giants’ Ashleigh Gardner. It was the 16th over of the chase when Ghosh slammed 4, 6, 4, 4, 4 and eventually helped RCB chase down 202 with her unbeaten 64 off 27.Hemant Brar: Gujarat Giants’ Kashvee Gautam stepping out to Mumbai Indians’ Shabnim Ismail, hitting her for a six, and celebrating with multiple fist pumps. An uncapped Indian taking on the fastest bowler in women’s cricket with such chutzpah was a sight.Related
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Sruthi Ravindranath: Sneh Rana’s six-ball cameo from No. 10 that almost won RCB their must-win match against UP Warriorz. She went 4, 6, 6, 4, 6 and out in the 19th over of the 226-run chase, giving her team a glimmer of hope. That one innings and her bowling throughout the season would make one wonder why she is not even in the fray for T20I selection.Shashank Kishore: Every time Smriti Mandhana went out for the toss at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Mandhana often had to wait for the cheers to subside before speaking into the mic. It was another reiteration of how far women’s cricket has come: from playing in front of empty stadiums to seeing full houses, from students and volunteers being driven into grounds by force to it being a ticketed event.Vishal Dikshit: Medium-pacers in women’s cricket often hover around the 105-110kph mark. This WPL threw up a spinner who breached 100kph. When Hayley Matthews resorted to bowling bouncers at the end of the league stage, one of them hit Phoebe Litchfield’s helmet and another fetched her a wicket. When she saw RCB’s S Meghana was going after her offbreaks, Matthews sent down a bumper at 102.8kph, which rose on the batter and induced a top edge.S Sudarshanan: For long, Gardner has thwarted Indians at the international stage, and it was refreshing to see Ghosh take her down in the season opener. Ghosh hit Gardner for a sequence of 4, 6, 4, 4, 4 to take 23 off the 16th over and turn the match decisively in RCB’s favour. The power shots were interspersed with some deft touches, evidence that Ghosh is growing as a finisher.Kashvee Gautam launches Shabnim Ismail for a six•BCCIAshish Pant: Rana’s six-ball 26 against Warriorz. It was some of the cleanest hitting you would ever see in any form of cricket. You wouldn’t generally associate Rana with the big hits, and that they came against Deepti Sharma, who has a T20 career economy rate of under seven an over, made the knock even more special.One player you couldn’t take your eyes offVishal Dikshit: Without doubt, it was Gardner. She came into the season with runs in the Women’s Ashes, but in the WPL she had a new responsibility of leading Giants, who had suffered two forgettable seasons. That pressure didn’t show at all as she started the league with two blistering knocks, against RCB and Warriorz, that featured some breathtaking sixes.Ashish Pant: Chinelle Henry. Every time she walked out to bat, it felt like she owned the stage, even when she did not score as many runs. Ditto with the ball. Her 23-ball 62 against Delhi Capitals was special.S Sudarshanan: Gautam. There aren’t many Indian fast bowlers who can move the ball at speed. Gautam, who missed last season due to injury, had worked on becoming stronger and increasing her pace. It was so good to see her attack the stumps, and the nip-backer to clean bowl Meg Lanning was one of my favourite moments of the season. With Pooja Vastrakar having a long injury layoff in a home World Cup year, Gautam’s success as a seam-bowling allrounder is a good sign for India.Shashank Kishore: Gautam. Raw pace, late swing. What a cocktail. Add to it her rocket throws from the deep and big sixes in the middle order, she has all the makings of being India’s next all-round wonder.Hemant Brar: Ellyse Perry, who made four fifties and an unbeaten 49 for RCB in eight innings. In the first two WPL seasons, Perry’s strike rate was 123.41 and 125.72. This time, she not only lifted it to 148.80 but also scored more runs (372) than the previous two seasons. Sruthi Ravindranath: Bharti Fulmali, Giants’ finisher. She showed glimpses of what she is capable of with her 40 off 29 against Capitals, but it was her 61 off just 25 balls against Mumbai that made heads turn. She smote eight fours and four sixes in that game, striking the ball with brute force and targeting the square boundaries.Srinidhi Ramanujam: Perry, with the bat and ball and on the field.Chinelle Henry batted like a boss•BCCIThe biggest surprise from the league phaseSrinidhi Ramanujam: Henry’s 18-ball fifty against Capitals at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.Hemant Brar: Henry smashing 163 runs – the joint-most for UP Warriorz – at a strike rate of 196.38. Her 15 sixes are the third-most in the league stage. All this is in complete contrast to her T20I record: a strike rate of 91.13 and eight sixes in 53 innings.Vishal Dikshit: Rana, 31, was not in contention for India’s white-ball squads throughout 2024 and was released by Giants recently. But she made a WPL comeback as a replacement player for RCB and grabbed headlines for performing with both bat and ball. She bowled in the powerplay, started with a three-for against Warriorz, and hit an incredible 26 off six in the reverse fixture, before ending the tournament with a Player-of-the-Match spell of 3 for 26.Ashish Pant: Gautam. Everyone knew she was good, and that is why Giants splurged INR 2 crore on her in the 2024 auction and retained her despite her not playing last season. But the way she has made her presence felt against some top-tier names is incredible.S Sudarshanan: Sophie Ecclestone’s batting helping Warriorz take their game against RCB into a Super Over. That she can bat is no secret, but she came into the season on the back of a lean Women’s Ashes and hadn’t really set the WPL stage alight with her batting till then.Sruthi Ravindranath: That toss had such a big say. Fifteen out of the 20 matches were won by teams chasing.Shashank Kishore: Arundhati Reddy going off the boil massively, after bowling one of the best spells by an Indian fast bowler in a women’s ODI in Australia earlier this year. Perhaps it’s a reflection of her lack of confidence currently, having been dropped – for reasons unknown – from the national team.Shabnim Ismail will have her tail up against Lanning if they meet in the final•WPLA match-up you can’t wait for in the playoffsSrinidhi Ramanujam: Gautam vs Harmanpreet Kaur in the eliminator. Among the uncapped players this WPL, Gautam has been the one to watch.Sruthi Ravindranath: Nat Sciver-Brunt vs Gardner in the eliminator. Two of the best allrounders in the game, they have been crucial in their respective teams’ successes this season. While Sciver-Brunt got the better of Gardner in their first encounter of the season, Gardner dismissed Sciver-Brunt in the reverse fixture.S Sudarshanan: Capitals vs Mumbai in the final, a repeat of 2023, when MI won. DC won both their games against MI in the league stage. If they meet again in the final, I’d be looking forward to the Ismail vs Shafali Verma battle.Vishal Dikshit: If MI reach the final, I can’t wait for the fiery Ismail to steam into Lanning. In the first Mumbai vs Capitals match this season, Ismail made Lanning look clueless against swing bowling. Ismail beat Lanning six times in 12 balls and finally knocked over her off stump.Hemant Brar: Capitals vs Destiny. Despite topping the league stage in each of the first two seasons, Capitals are yet to win a title. They have once again secured a direct spot in the final. Will they be third time lucky?Shashank Kishore: Ismail vs Lanning. One of the fastest bowlers up against one of the best players square of the wicket on the off side. It’s a battle we miss at the international level; cherish it right here, right now.