With the completion of the 2025 Women’s Premier League (WPL) season which saw Mumbai Indians lift the WPL title for the second time, we also saw Amelia Kerr end up with the most wickets by an individual in a single WPL season. As the tradition has been for the Purple Cap winner, it once again came from the championship winning squad. With the young Kiwi walking away with the Purple Cap for WPL 2025, here’s a look at the Purple Cap winners in WPL’s history.
Hayley Matthews (Mumbai Indians) 16 wickets – WPL 2023
Mumbai Indians have one of the finest all-rounders in the women’s game in Hayley Matthews and the West Indies all-rounder proved her worth right from the get-go in WPL 2023.
Matthews opened the bowling for Mumbai in their second game of the 2023 campaign, picking up 3/28 in her four overs, bagging the key wickets of Smriti Mandhana, Heather Knight and Richa Ghosh. Harmanpreet Kaur continued to wise Matthews shrewdly as the off break allrounder consistently chipped in with wickets, whenever the team needed. Matthews was not only amongst the wickets but economical as well, as she became a key bank for Kaur and co. in WPL 2023.
In the Eliminator against UP Warriorz, Matthews struck the final blow against the Warriorz, sending Deepti Sharma home to make sure the Warriorz managed only a below-par 110 while chasing 183. She left her best though, for the Final as Matthews picked up 3/5 from her four overs, and while she was amongst the wickets, she gave absolutely nothing away, finishing with two maidens as well.
Matthews finished the inaugural WPL season with 16 wickets from 10 games at an average of 12.65 with an incredible economy of 5.94.
Shreyanka Patil (Royal Challengers Bengaluru) 13 wickets – WPL 2024
Young off-break bowler Shreyanka Patil was RCB’s breakthrough performer in their title-winning WPL 2024 season with Patil standing out with the ball, helping Smriti Mandhana and co. pick up the franchise’s first-ever title. It wasn’t the ideal start for Patil though, as she was clobbered for 32 in her 3 overs in the opening game of the season, going wicketless. She found her first wicket of the season against Delhi, although she leaked runs in that game as well.
After a couple of mediocre performances, Patil was dropped for a couple of matches before making her comeback against Delhi were she showed heart to pick up 4/26, removing big guns like Meg Lanning, Jemimah Rodrigues, Alice Capsey and Jess Jonassen. She picked up two key wickets in the Eliminator against Mumbai Indians, sending home Hayley Matthews and Harmanpreet Kaur and made sure to not concede too many runs, ending with 4-0-16-2. In a low-scoring Final, Patil was the star with the ball, picking up 4/12 from her 3.3 overs, removing Lanning in a crucial moment to turn the game before wrapping up the tail.
Patil ended WPL 2024 with the WPL trophy and the Purple Cap as well, walking away with 13 wickets from 8 games, at an average of 12.07.
Amelia Kerr (Mumbai Indians) 18 wickets – WPL 2025
It was double trouble from Mumbai Indians in 2025 as Amelia Kerr and Hayley Matthews tore through the opponent batting lineups with both ending up with 18 wickets each. Kerr walked away with the Purple Cap thanks to a better average and economy. Throughout the season, Kerr was instrumental in making key-breakthroughs at crucial junctures to make sure Mumbai stayed in the game. Right from Mumbai’s first game against Delhi, where she removed Jemimah Rodrigues and Alie Capsey to put Delhi in a spot of bother. She regularly chipped in with a couple of wickets and if she wasn’t taking wickets, she was being extremely economical, building up the pressure so that the bowlers from the other end could get the job done.
Kerr’s best figures in WPL 2025 came against UP Warriorz as Kerr spun a web against the Warriorz’s batters, picking up 5/38 to help Mumbai ease to a comfortable win. Against Gujarat Giants in the Eliminator, just as the Giants were looking like they might have a crack at the 214-run target, being 107/4 in 11 overs, Kerr took out the well-set Phoebe Litchfield to turn the game in Mumbai’s favour. Kerr wrapped up WPL 2025 with two wickets in the final, sending home two dangerous batters in Jess Jonassen and the set Jemimah Rodrigues to make sure Delhi had no chance of making the total.
Kerr finished WPL 2025 with 18 wickets from 10 games at an average of 15.94. Kerr and Matthews also are the highest wicket takers in the history of WPL with Matthews having 41 scalps while Kerr has 40.
Loves all things female cricket
