This is the fourth edition of the Women's Premier League, which again will feature just five teams. Last year's winners were the Mumbai Indians, who beat three-times finalists Delhi Capitals in the final. Mumbai have won the title twice and RCB once (2024).
Before this edition there was a mega auction with the aim of shaking up the teams for the next two years, but many teams used their Right to Match to rebuy players, who had not been retained.
The bookmakers, and the experts, make the Mumbai Indians favourites to again lift the trophy, but the betting is tight.
Here are the likely starting XIs for each team and some thoughts on how they might perform
Delhi Capitals (DC)
Probable XI - Verma, Wolvaardt, Rodrigues (capt), Kapp, Prasad, Henry, King, T Bhatia (wk), S Rana, Charani, N Sharma
This XI leaves Lizelle Lee on the bench, but after her stellar WBBL she could get the nod ahead of Chinelle Henry in the middle order and also potentially play as wicketkeeper, which would allow DC to bring in another batter/bowler to replace Tanya Bhatia who is a keeper only.
Jemimah Rodrigues has been handed the captaincy for the first time with Meg Lanning having been snaffled by UPW. She is a smart cricketing cookie, but her team look light in their batting and will rely on their domestic seamers backing up Marizanne Kapp, who looks to be batting too high at 4.
Prediction - 3rd
Gujarat Giants (GG)
Probable XI - Mooney (wk), Devine, Fulmali (wk), Gardner (capt), Wareham, Ahuja, Soni, Gautam, Kanwar, Sadhu, R Singh.
I cannot help feeling that a lot will depend on the overseas players for GG, especially Beth Mooney with the bat. They also have Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Kim Garth sitting on the bench should they be needed, but their domestic talent looks weak.
I am not sure that Ash Gardner is a natural leader and they will need her to perform with bat and ball, and I remain unconvinced by Renuka Singh as a T20 bowler, but Georgia Wareham looks to be in the form of her life with bat and ball. They might surprise a few people.
Prediction - 1st
Mumbai Indians (MI)
Probable XI - Kamalini (wk), Matthews, Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur, Kerr, Amanjot Kaur, Khemnar, Sajana, Gupta, Ismail, Ishaque
MI are relying on Matthews, NSB and Kerr to get them runs and bowl probably 10 of the 20 overs. It is a lot to ask and none of them have been in great form recently. 37 year old Shabnim Ismail has been bought back in, despite having a fairly average record in all three previous WPL tournaments. Her bowling was also expensive in the latest WBBL. If she struggles then MI have little back-up.
I am intrigued to see what 17 year old Kamalini can do as Matthews opening partner. Matthews, who has not played a game since a pretty dire Hundred campaign in August, may be more of a liability.
Prediction - 2nd
Royal Challengers Bangaluru (RCB)
Probable XI - Mandhana (capt), Voll, Naik, Harris, Ghosh (wk), de Klerk, Vastrakar, R Yadav, Patil, Reddy, Bell
Lauren Bell has never played a game in the WPL and is potentially a big gamble for RCB.
While Smriti Mandhana looks nailed on to succeed Harmanpreet Kaur as India's next T20 captain she does not seem to handle the pressure of captaincy that well.
If the explosive top order fire you can see them making a lot of runs, very quickly, but you can also see them imploding and being 10/4 in 3 overs.
Without Perry and probably without Vastrakar (injured) this is not a very well balanced team and I think they will struggle.
Prediction - 5th
UP Warriorz (UPW)
Probable XI - Lanning (capt), Navgire, Deol, Litchfield, Sharma, Dottin, Giri (wk), Ecclestone, Sobhana, Pandey, Gaud
They finished bottom last year under the guidance of the sacked Jon Lewis, and have had a complete overhaul in the auction, with their hopes firmly pinned to the leadership and batting of Meg Lanning and the seam bowling of the ageing, and out of favour, Shikha Pandey. It looks like a big gamble. Deepti is not a T20 number 5, and Dottin and Navgire are hit and miss with the bat at the best of times. Lanning could end up batting the entire way through every innings and watching her partners disappear at the other end.
Perhaps this is the tournament that Phoebe Litchfield makes a sustained contribution? They will need her.
Prediction - 4th
As I have reviewed each team I have genuinely placed four of these five teams in the Final and then changed my mind again. The only team I have ruled out of Final contention are RCB.
I am still not at all convinced by my own predictions for where these teams will finish. In such a short tournament I think it will come down to one or two players (almost certainly batters) finding some great form and winning their team key games. MI have the most potential to have one of those key players, but I am not convinced this will be their year. However I still think they will make the Final. Eventually I decided that GG would meet them there. Devine is in the twilight of her career and it seems to have freed her up. I think she might have a big tournament.
I don't think DC have the batting depth to win enough games and UPW have too many holes in their line-up filled by high strike rate hopefuls (HSRHs).
The whole thing kicks off on Friday with Mumbai Indians v RCB and will be shown live on Sky Sport. Most games start at 2pm each afternoon here in the UK.
Martin Davies
07/I/2026
