A number of exciting batting combinations have produced reliable performances and game-winning stands in the Women’s Premier League (WPL). In particular, opening pairs are essential in establishing the atmosphere of their teams, getting things going, and creating momentum.
Some of these pairings have made history thanks to their exceptional run-scoring prowess and comfort at the crease. These fruitful collaborations have influenced their teams’ achievements and are once again in the forefront as the WPL 2025 progresses.
Delhi Capital’s Meg Lanning and Shafali Verma’s 26-run opening partnership in their most recent outing against the UP Warriorz in the ongoing Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2025 saw the Delhi opening pair cross 1000 runs as a pair in the WPL, locking in a unique record.
While Lanning and Verma hold the most runs as a pair in the WPL, we take a look at the top 3 pairs in the WPL with regards to most runs.
1) Meg Lanning and Shafali Verma (Delhi Capitals) – 1020 runs
The Delhi Capitals opening pair of Meg Lanning and explosive Indian batter Shafali Verma are the best, run wise. Lanning and Verma have been opening for the Capitals since the first edition of the WPL in 2023 and it was in their first game in the 2023 edition against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru where Lanning and Verma put on a record opening stand of 162.
Two games later they recorded another century run opening stand against the Gujarat Giants and the duo have three century run opening stands with the latest opening coming last season against the UP Warriorz. Verma and Lanning have seven fifty-run stands and three 100 run partnerships with their average being 48.57, which sees the two generally give the Capitals a strong start on most occasions.
2) Yastika Bhatia and Hayley Matthews (Mumbai Indians) – 555 runs
Like Verma and Lanning, Mumbai Indians also have a long-standing opening pair which features India’s Yastika Bhatia and West Indies’ Hayley Matthews, both of whom have been opening for the Mumbai team since the first WPL. Bhatia and Matthews have piled up a total of 555 runs from their 21 games opened together with an average of 26.42 and have given Mumbai five half-century opening partnerships.
The duo’s highest partnership remains their 65-run opening partnership against the Delhi Capitals in the 2023 edition and Mumbai will be counting on the two to provide them with strong starts once again, with the two yet to record a fifty-run partnership in the ongoing season of the WPL yet.
3) Sophie Devine and Smriti Mandhana (Royal Challengers Bengaluru) – 532 runs
The 3rd pair in this list is the former Royal Challengers Bengaluru opening pair of Smriti Mandhana and Sophie Devine. The two opened the batting for Bengaluru in the first two seasons of the WPL and have recorded 532 runs together in 14 innings at an average of 38 with one century stand and two half century stands.
The New Zealander batter and the current RCB captain’s highest partnership remains their incredible 125-run opening partnership against the Gujarat Giants in WPL 2023, which had seen Devine miss out on a century, as she fell for 99. Their final outing together was the triumphant WPL 2024 Final, where Devine and Mandhana’s steady and solid 49-run partnership made sure that the Bengaluru squad had no hiccups in chasing a dicey 115.
Although Devine is no longer at the Bengaluru camp, the Indian and Kiwi pair were a stable and reliable duo for the Challengers at the top of the order and their record speaks for itself.
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