WPL 2025: How Harmanpreet Kaur with her best season of franchise cricket inspired Mumbai Indians to title | Cricket News

With a sheepish grin, Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Ellyse Perry reflected on her knock of 49* off 38 balls, out of a total of 199, in her side’s victory over Mumbai Indians in a league game. “Some of the cameos you see… like the way Richa Ghosh (36 off 22) and Georgia Wareham (31* off 10) batted in the end. Those contributions are probably way more impactful sometimes than just pure output of runs,” she told the broadcasters.It not only reflected the Aussie superstar’s mentality but also the importance of playing attacking cricket and posting an influential rather than a chunky knock. In a way, it summed up how Harmanpreet Kaur has batted for Mumbai Indians this season, as her side emerged as champions on Saturday in Mumbai for the second time in three seasons of the WPL, defeating Delhi Capitals in a thriller.
Harmanpreet’s tally of runs and average over three seasons of the Women’s Premier League read like this. In 2023, 281 runs at 40.14; in 2024, 268 runs at 53.80, and in 2025, 302 runs at her lowest average so far at 33.55. But in T20 terms, she had the most impact this year, striking at a brilliant 154.87, hitting 11 sixes which equalled her tally of the first two seasons combined. Across 10 different appearances in franchise leagues around the world – five seasons of Women’s Big Bash League in Australia, two seasons of England’s The Hundred, and of course, three editions of WPL – this was Harmanpreet’s best strike in a tournament. Her knock of 66 off 44 balls in the title clash came at a strike rate of 150, and lifted MI to what proved to be a winning 149/7.
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“She’s deeply competitive and clearly wanted to win another title, and she did everything in her power to achieve that with the innings she played, didn’t she?,” MI’s coach Charlotte Edwards – one of the greats of the game and now a super coach across leagues – said on Saturday. “I think she read the conditions brilliantly. She knew which bowlers to be aggressive against. It was such a great innings and really set us up for the win. She’s great around the group, brings out the best in our young players, and works brilliantly with our overseas and experienced players.”
Praise from the vanquished opposition camp was high too. “Harmanpreet Kaur was fantastic, I thought her innings was the difference between the two sides,” DC coach Jonathan Batty added.
KO hero
Two of Harmanpreet’s finest knocks of the season came in the two knockout matches for Mumbai Indians, and in themselves, couldn’t have been more contrasting. In the Eliminator against Gujarat Giants, she walked into bat with the scoreboard reading 159/2 at the start of the 17th over. She had just one thing on her mind: attack. Her 12-ball 36 took MI to an above-par total.
In the final, the match situation was dire when she was called into action. DC’s new ball bowlers were helping to plant a whole lot of trees as they piled up the dot balls in the first four overs. the fifth, both openers were dismissed and Harmanpreet walked out at 14/2. She couldn’t afford to take risks. So – just briefly – went back to her old playbook of taking time initially. Five of the first six balls she faced were dots, seven of her first 11 runs were singles. Then, like a coordinated press in football, Nat Sciver-Brunt triggered a press from the other end, Harmanpreet took the cue, and accelerated. From 11 off 15, she scored 55 runs off 29 balls.Story continues below this ad
“It wasn’t easy when I went to bat. I had the belief that if I could rotate the strike. When Nat is there, I don’t need to take too much pressure. She was in great touch and she was doing it for the team. We tried to keep it simple and easy, we took calculated risks and that helped us in the partnership,” Harmanpreet said. Indeed, the key to her batting approach in 2025 was believing in the depth around her and taking a few more risks than she normally would. The prolific Nat Sciver-Brunt had the best season any batter has ever had in the WPL (finishing with 523 runs) and it helped the India captain too.
Edwards said that understanding of the conditions helped Harmanpreet. “We have played three games here. We knew we could catch up later in the innings, as the first six overs at this ground were always challenging.”

The Harmanpreet Kaur of WPL 2025 – batting with freedom, taking a few more risks – is a version India would love to see this year at the home ODI World Cup. As Edwards put it, “When she’s at her best, she’s the best in the world, as we saw in the last two knockout games.”
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Mumbai’s impressionable Indians
Harmanpreet Kaur led from the front, as we expect her to. But MI’s title-winning campaign also witnessed some key contributions from the young Indian contingent.
01Amanjot KaurWith useful cameos down the order, her presence solidified MI’s batting depth. She was utilised with the ball much more this season, having bowled 5 overs in the first two seasons combined, but 17 this year.
02G KamaliniAt 16, the U19 World Cup-winning cricketer is one for the future. But she showed she can handle the pressure in the present too. Two impressive cameos – one against RCB in Bengaluru and the six in the final – offered glimpses of her potential.
03Sanskriti Gupta20-year-old right-arm spinner, with her ability to bowl fast off-breaks, impressed in the six matches she played, picking up four wickets. A livewire on the field too, and seemed handy with the bat lower down the order.