How WPL, BCCI investment turned Indian women’s cricket from nearly-there to world champion

Prior to October 30, 2025, heartbreaks had been a theme in women’s World Cups for India. Across formats, too. It had even spilled over to the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022, where India had to settle for a silver medal, with Australia holding their nerve in a crunch situation much better.

That was just one instance of India failing to cross the line. The list, with each passing tournament, seemed to get bigger and more nagging. But since the Women’s Premier League (WPL) came into being in 2023, there have been signs of things changing.

WPL makes international experience local

The inception of the WPL also dovetailed with the BCCI placing greater emphasis on women’s cricket. Central contracts have gotten healthier, match fees are on par with what the men earn in international cricket, and there is a semblance of a structure in domestic cricket. A perfect case in point is Shafali Verma. She was captaining Haryana in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy and was asked to paradrop into the World Cup, and she did not miss a beat.

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A tournament like the WPL, because it is such a high-profile event and because of the pressure it entails, as fans throng the stadiums and shout their hearts out, also almost mirrors international cricket. Some may say a WPL game, on average, may have more eyeballs trained on it too, and might have more scrutiny attached.

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Whatever the case may be, it does prepare players to equip themselves better. To when oppositions turn up the heat. To when the situation demands something clutch, and to when there is no other option but to embrace the pressure.

🏆 Mumbai Indians - #𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗔𝗪𝗣𝗟 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱 𝗖. 𝗛. 𝗔. 𝗠. 𝗣. 𝗜. 𝗢. 𝗡. 𝗦 🏆

Scorecard ▶ https://t.co/2dFmlnwxVj #DCvMI | #Final | @mipaltan pic.twitter.com/JOV98PFNwq

— Women's Premier League (WPL) (@wplt20) March 15, 2025

That was visible through different stages of this Women’s World Cup. India lost three group games in a row. They had not lost those many in 2017, or in 2005, which prior to 2025, was the only other times they had made the final. This time, they did lose three. In front of their fans. Yet, they mustered the belief to keep at it and not get distracted by all that was being said.

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And in each of the matches that followed, they had one of their big stars standing up. Like they often do for their respective WPL teams. Without feeling any extra baggage, and by treating it as just another day at the office. Even though it was anything but.

Smriti Mandhana’s hundred against New Zealand in Navi Mumbai. Or Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues’ magnificent partnership against Australia. Or Deepti Sharma’s all-timer all-rounder display in the final – each of them, without the WPL and without that habit of turning up for their franchise sides regularly, would have been much tougher to conjure.

The other by-product is that the WPL has gotten a new fan base into the game. Nothing sells like T20 cricket nowadays, and as much as the purists may want to argue against it, that is simply how modern-day cricket works.

Plus, Women’s Test matches are far and few in between anyway, although that is not due to any fault of the players. But asking people to tune in to a format that they may get to watch just once or twice or maybe even thrice a year is not a good start.

That is where leagues such as the WPL, the WBBL and the Women’s Hundred come into the equation. Not only do they get more people watching, but they also make those watching identify with players and support them all the way through as they go on to represent their respective nations.

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Which, in turn, helps the league grow, helps the finances in swelling, leading to more money being pumped into the game. In addition to the investments made by the BCCI, both in the WPL and across domestic structures.

Financial security =proving to be game-changer

Cricketers, because there is some element of financial security now involved, have greater incentive to take up cricket as a career, work full-time towards improving themselves as cricketers and being the best version of themselves. And more vitally, they are no longer are forced to sacrifice their dreams for financial stability, because their passion, their dream of playing the sport they love, is rewarding enough.

That ultimately leads to a greater talent pool. It came to the fore in the World Cup too, with Shafali, not even among the stand-by list, winning the Player of the Match award in the final. Shreyanka Patil, nursing an injury but an excellent off-spinner, was not in the squad altogether. Asha Sobhana also did not make it.

But it never felt as if India were missing anyone. Add the likes of Kashvee Gautam, Sayali Satghare, Saima Thakor, Yastika Bhatia to that list, and it speaks volumes about the depth Indian women’s cricket has now. All thanks to the WPL. And by extension, the BCCI.

That said, there may still be a bit to address. The central contracts still have a discrepancy, and the WPL salaries are also not as impressive as what players in the IPL earn. But that will come. That will come with time. And why that can now be said with such certainty is because the BCCI is treating the sport as everyone’s game, and not just as the gentlemen’s game. Women’s cricket is no longer an afterthought.

It could be argued that it should have been this way all along. Ever since BCCI became the guardian for women’s cricket in 2006. But better late than never. From a player’s point of view, too, this could not have been a better time to be a women’s cricketer.

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The WPL is three seasons old and will only get grander. A mega-auction is reportedly planned ahead of the 2026 edition, and that tournament will serve as a precursor to the women’s T20 World Cup next year in England, where India, having gotten past the line in ODI cricket, will aim for an unprecedented white-ball double.

And for all of those things, credit is due to everyone involved. The BCCI. The WPL. The players. The fans. Every single stakeholder. Every single fan that was there when things were not as bright and were resembling a darker tunnel. And every single individual who had faith, even when the noise, sometimes unbearably and unfairly, was around how that was a futile venture.

India, as a team, have reaped the rewards already. And they are now the champions of the world. That they can be so much more is no blot on them or being greedy – it is just an illustration of what now seems possible, and perhaps even probable.

The WPL has done that. The BCCI has done that. And the players have done that. All together. And finally, as one.