The 3rd season of WPL 2025 has started from 14th February 2025. The WPL has become the premier women’s league tournament in the world. The players come to India to give it their all and they want to win this trophy. There are 5 teams in the WPL. This tournament has resulted in stadiums being packed to capacity at all venues. The players earn more in this month than they will earn throughout the year. The success of this tournament will result in the growth of women’s cricket. The objective of this article is to predict the best team with the help of team analysis and looking at key players.
Let’s look at the WPL in more details
WPL 2025 Format and Key Changes
The format for the 3rd season of WPL is the same as the last two seasons. There will be 8 Matches that will be played by the 5 teams. The team that finishes top of the league table will go straight to the final. The 2nd and 3rd place teams will play in a qualifier and the winner will qualify for the final. The venues for the third season of WPL are Vadodara, Bengaluru, Lucknow and Mumbai. At the 2024 WPL Auction Simran Shaikh was the highest bid player at 1.9 crores. Deandra Dottin was taken by Gujarat Giants for 1.7 crores. Alans King was bought by UP Warriorz for only 30 lakhs.
Team by Team Analysis
Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians are the champions of the first WPL season. They have a team filled with all rounders and their captain is Harmanpreet Kaur. Some of their key Players are Harmanpreet Kaur, Nat Sciver Brunt, Amelia Kerr, Hayley Matthews. Mumbai Indians have players that can bat and bowl so they have a lot of options. Mumbai Indians beat RCB team recently. They did not qualify for the final in WPL 2024. Some of their weakness is the batting because they do not have only a proper batter other than Harmanpreet Kaur.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
The RCB team were the champions of the Second season of WPL. They have almost the same team as last year. Their main strengths are their batting and their all round players. Their main concerns are the absence of a good spinner and they have only one good fast bowler. Some of their key players are the captain Smriti Mandhana, Danny Wyatt, Ellyse Perry, Richa Ghosh and Renuka Singh Thakur. Some of their emerging players are Kanika Ahuja and Prema Rawat. RCB team would look to take advantage of the 4 Matches that they will have at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Delhi Capitals
Delhi Capitals team has been the most consistent team. They have reached the final of both the previous editions of the WPL. Delhi Capitals have a good balance of batting, bowling and all rounders. They have Meg Lanning as their captain. Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues as their star Indian batters. They also have Alice Capsey and Jess Jonassen as their spinners. Annabel Sutherland is their fast bowling all rounder. Marizanne Kapp is a player that can prove to be a match winner for them. Delhi Capitals will look to utilise their balance and according to the conditions they will play their 11.
UP Warriorz
The UP Warriorz are without their original captain in Alyssa Healy. That is a big weakness for them. They have appointed Deepti Sharma as their captain and this is a gamble. UP Warriorz have a good batting line-up. They have Kiran Navgire and Vrinda Dinesh at the top. In the middle order they have Tahlia McGrath and Grace Harris who can tonk the ball. With the ball they have Sophie Ecclestone and Alana King as their spinners. Their weakness could be the top heavy Indian order as they can sometimes not score at a strike rate of 150. UP Warriorz also do not have good fast bowlers.
Gujarat Giants
The most poor team in the 2 seasons of the WPL. They have finished last in both the previous seasons. They have appointed Ash Gardener as their captain and she has been their best player with bat and ball. They have Laura Wolvaardt and Beth Mooney as their openers which is a dream combination. Deandra Dottin and Simran Shaikh are the new expensive buys for Gujarat Giants. They do not have experienced fast bowlers who can take wickets at the Top of the innings. Indian players like Harleen Deol and Dayalan Hemalatha can make an impact for the Gujarat Giants in 2025.
They will look to be in the Top 3 this year.
Key Players to Watch Out For in WPL 2025
Batters
Smriti Mandhana
Harmanpreet Kaur
Meg Lanning
Laura Wolvaardt
Jemimah Rodrigues
Kiran Navgire
Bowlers
Renuka Singh Thakur
Shabnim Ismail
Shikha Pandey
Meghna Singh
All Rounders
Ellyse Perry
Nat Sciver Brunt
Deepti Sharma
Tahlia McGrath
Ash Gardener
Emerging Players
Vrinda Dinesh
Saika Ishaque
Simran Shaikh
Kanika Ahuja
Expert Predictions for WPL 2025
The strongest team for WPL 2025 is the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. They are the defending champions and they will play 4 home Matches at Bengaluru. They have a good mix of batters and bowlers. The team which looks the weakest on paper is UP Warriorz. They do not have a strong Indian core and this is an Indian league. The MVP of the tournament could be Ellyse Perry of RCB, Ash Gardener of Gujarat Giants or Nat Sciver Brunt of Mumbai Indians. The team most likely to lift the trophy is RCB or Delhi Capitals.
Statistical Analysis and Trends
Mumbai Indians won the WPL season 2023. RCB won the WPL 2024. In WPL 2025 so far RCB have played 3 Matches and have won 2 of these. Mumbai Indians have also won 2 of their 3 Matches in WPL 2025. Gujarat Giants have finished last in both the seasons. Delhi Capitals have reached the final in both seasons of WPL. The UP Warriorz have been a very inconsistent team. The WPL 2024 will be played across 4 venues so the pitches will be different and will favour the home team.
Conclusion – Final Prediction
The analysis shows that RCB , Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals are the best placed teams in the 3rd season of WPL. UP Warriorz have a weak Indian core and Gujarat Giants will have to punch above their weight to win. The team with the most probable chance to win WPL 2025 is Delhi Capitals as they know how to qualify for the final and they have the team to go one step further. The excitement for the tournament is real and the fans are connecting to the teams. The standard of cricket will be high.
