Women’s cricket continues to see exponential growth and rise in India, as well as in other countries. In India, it has been much more pronounced than in other cricket-loving nations due to its vast population. India won the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup 2025 under the leadership of Harmanpreet Kaur. This victory instantly tilted her side, just like women’s cricket as a whole, to the top.
The International Cricket Council (ICC), the sport’s governing body, released interesting statistics. It showed that there were 279 million social media interactions during the 50-over tournament last year. It was more than triple that of interactions seen in the previous year. The women’s game immense popularity is also due to the presence of the Women’s Premier League (WPL), the female counterpart of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The WPL is held every year just ahead of the IPL. It serves as an excellent platform for players to hone their skills. It also allows fans to interact with the superstars they have grown up watching. At the same time, they get live access to them in stadiums. Even brands and sponsors have a gala time in the WPL, since visibility by millions of people drives their stakes up. A recent survey conducted by YouGov revealed that a significant section of fans have taken to the WPL, based on India’s success in the 2025 ODI World Cup.
Thus, 80% of respondents confirmed that they were in touch with, or following the WPL in some form or another. Also, 55% of the respondents mentioned that started watching the WPL on the basis of India’s success in the World Cup.
With the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup scheduled for later this year in England, one can expect these numbers to grow further. While India is going through a huge growth curve, numbers have increased in England as well. The survey’s respondents confirmed that they had taken to following women’s cricket after England Women’s recent successes in the Rugby World Cup and European Championships (football/soccer).
This reason may look weird, following one sport after seeing the success of another. Yet, the numbers stack up. For instance, 27% of respondents mentioned that the latter two tournaments spurred them to follow women’s cricket. The T20 World Cup is expected to be a huge event for women’s cricket globally. One can expect these viewership and engagement numbers to increase tremendously.
