Parimatch has released the results of its comprehensive “Cricket Fans Choice Survey. Women’s Edition,” which highlights fans favorite WPL cricketers as voted by over 3,000 participants, asked by Parimatch. Findings from the survey include:
Fans’ favorite WPL-lever active Player
The 2024 Orange Cap winner Ellyse Perry was the biggest reason behind Royal Challengers Bengaluru winning the WPL title and the Australian all-rounder’s efforts on the pitch have been rewarded as she was voted fans’ favorite WPL-level active player.
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Parimatch Releases Survey Results Revealing Top WPL-level Indian Cricketers
Perry was chosen by 60% of the voters while Harmanpreet Kaur is in second place with exactly half of those voters as the Indian skipper garnered an approval from 30% of the voters with Ashleigh Gardner, Deepti Sharma, and Shafali Varma getting 29%, 25%, and 23% respectively.
Rising Stars
The Women’s Premier League has been a hotbed for upcoming rising stars to prove their credentials and nail a spot in the Indian national team.
For WPL 2025, Richa Ghosh was named as the Rising Star of the season with 35% of the fans choosing the RCB wicket-keeper batter who justified the coveted award by scoring 232 runs in 8 innings at a strike rate of 173.13.
Richa defeated the likes of U-19 World Cup winning captain Niki Prasad (18.1%), Kashvee Gautam (17.1%), and Kranti Goud (16%) to bag the title of Rising Star for WPL 2025.
Best Captains
Another RCB player to win award on this list in the Royal Challengers skipper Smriti Mandhana with 53% of the voters favoring the Indian opening batter who led her side to the title in WPL 2024, but a huge lot of injuries weakened their squad in WPL 2025, as RCB crashed out of the competition.
Harmanpreet led Mumbai Indians to the WPL title in the inaugural season and has a chance of lifting the title once again in WPL 2025, finishing second on the list with 41% of the voters selecting her as one of the many options.
Ashleigh Gardner took over Gujarat Giants and changed their fortunes immediately, helping the Giants qualify for the WPL playoffs for the first time in the league’s history, which helped her finish third on the list with 23% votes while Meg Lanning was only selected by 17% of the voters despite captaining Delhi Capitals in the final of all three seasons.
Most Interesting Player to Watch: Off the Pitch
Perry has also been voted as the top off-the-pitch voice as the Australian with 2.7M followers defeated the likes of Harmanpreet and Smriti Mandhana, the latter has more than 12M followers.
While Perry won the trust of 33% voters for her off the pitch activities, Harmanpreet, Gardner, Beth Mooney, and Alyssa Healy were the next most voted WPL-level active cricketers on the list with 24%, 17%, 16%, and 15% respectively.
Underrated Players
23% of the fans believe that Chamari Athapaththu has never been given the recognition she deserves and hailed her as the unsung hero of WPL. The Sri Lankan was ignored at the WPL 2023 Auctions but was picked up by UP Warriorz in WPL 2024 where she wasn’t given a rope long enough to prove her credentials.
Mumbai Indians’ latest acquisition G Kamilini is second on the list with 18% votes while Alyysa Healy (15%), Kiran Navgire (13%), and the evergreen Hayley Matthews (12%) compile the Top 5 list of underrated players in WPL.
Best On-Field Partnerships
RCB skipper Mandhana and Perry have been voted as the best on-field partnership with 39% of the voters opting for the duo as the top-order batters have been consistent throughout WPL history stitching multiple partnerships that helped RCB cross the line.
Mandhana and Sophie Devine finish in second place with 26% of the voters backing them while Delhi Capitals’ opening pair of Shafali Varma and skipper Meg Lanning finish in joint-second place with 26% votes.
Mumbai Indians skipper Harmanpreet and Nat Sciver Brunt take the fourth position with 25% of the voters favoring the MI duo while Perry once again features in the list, but for her bowling, as her bowling partnership with Renuka Singh has been voted as the fifth-best on-field partnership in WPL history with 19% votes.
Role Model for Next Generation
Despite playing two sports for an elongated period of time, Perry was able to nail down a successful career in cricket and has also co-authored a children’s book bringing her closer to her fans as 47% of the voters backed her as the ideal role model.
The Indian trio of Harmanpreet (35%), Mandhana (23%), and Deepti Sharma (22%) have inspired millions of girls to take up the sport over the last decade and they take up second, third, and fourth positions on the list with Gardner (19%) finishing fifth.
Best Players Under High-Pressure Situations
Whether it is bowling death overs, finishing matches in death overs, or rebuilding the innings after a couple of early wickets, Perry is the master of all high-pressure situations and tops yet another list with 44% of the voters backing her.
Harmanpreet has won several matches for India and Mumbai Indians with her flashy batting strokes and finishes second in this category with 29% votes. Gardner (22%) and Beth Mooney (20%) finish third and fourth while Deepti (17%) takes fifth place on the list.
Methodology
The data was collected by the Parimatch Asia research team between February 1st, 2025 and March 5th, 2025. The online survey was distributed via email and online platforms, with 3,045 qualified respondents from India. The users were allowed to vote for multiple athletes within the same category.
About Parimatch
Parimatch is the #1 global gaming platform. Since 1994, Parimatch has grown to be enjoyed by 3,000,000 active users worldwide. It is trusted by the worlds top athletes and celebrities: Trinidadian cricket stars Nicholas Pooran and Sunil Narine and Indian rap icon Divine are among their brand ambassadors. Parimatch is the Regional Sponsor of the Argentine Football Association and the Title Sponsor of the Sunrisers Eastern Cape, a South African professional Twenty20 cricket franchise team.
