3 things to look forward to in WPL 2025 ft. World Cup hopefuls

The Women's Premier League (WPL) 2025 is set to begin on Friday, February 14, with Gujarat Giants taking on defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in Vadodara.

This is the third season of the WPL and will see five teams taking part once again, with the other three being Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals and UP Warriorz. A total of 22 matches will be played this season including the eliminator and the final. The final will take place on Saturday, March 15, in Mumbai.

Smriti Mandhana (Royal Challengers Bengaluru), Meg Lanning (Delhi Capitals), Harmanpreet Kaur (Mumbai Indians), Deepti Sharma (UP Warriorz), and Ashleigh Gardner (Gujarat Giants) are the captains of the five teams in WPL 2025.

As the new season is about to begin, here are three things to look forward to during the tournament.

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#3 Clash of two WPL champions - RCB vs MI

While Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) are the defending champions from season two, Mumbai Indians (MI) won the inaugural edition of the WPL in 2023. Therefore, an exciting battle is on the cards as the former champions and current champions collide this time around.

The two teams met thrice in the previous WPL season. While MI won the first game, RCB bounced back to beat them the second time and then once again in the eliminator.

The teams will meet twice this season in the league stage and these will be among the must-watch games of the season as RCB and MI share a fierce rivalry. While the defending champions will look to repeat their heroics, Mumbai will be keen to avenge their defeat from the eliminator.

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#2 Vadodara and Lucknow - the two new venues

After the success of the first two editions, WPL 2025 will see matches being played in two new venues - the Kotambi Stadium in Vadodara and the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow. As the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) looks to expand the tournament, the addition of two new venues is a positive.

While Mumbai and Bengaluru have been two venues where the crowd has shown up in large numbers, it will now be interesting to see the response and attendance garnered at the two new venues this season.

The first six matches of this season will be played at the Kotambi Stadium in Vadodara, which also hosted India Women's ODIs against West Indies in December 2024. Four matches will be played at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow between March 3 and March 8.

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#1 Focus on World Cup hopefuls

The 2025 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup is set to be held in India later this year. With an ICC event coming up, the focus will be on India's top players who will be expected to perform well.

While players like Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma among others will be looked upon, the larger focus will be on players like Shafali Varma, Arundhati Reddy and Yastika Bhatia, who have not been playing for India in recent times, keeping the World Cup in mind.

Shafali, in particular, who has been out of favor, will be keen to prove herself, with the home ODI World Cup coming up. Players such as Arundhati and Yastika (returning from injury) will also be keen to make an impact as they will hope to make it to the World Cup squad eventually.