WPL Speed Queen - an initiative aiming to increase India women's fast bowling pool

New Delhi, Jan 9 (IANS) As all five franchises gear up to put their best foot forward in the quest of winning the 2026 Women’s Premier League (WPL), scores of female fast bowlers in U19 and U23 categories have been busy giving trials in the Delhi-NCR region under the ‘WPL Speed Queen’ initiative.

The premise of the initiative by the WPL and BCCI is simple – unearth the hidden female fast?bowling talent in U-19 and U-23 age groups in India. It began on January 5, with trials in Delhi-NCR region happening till Sunday, and is set to travel through Lucknow, Gujarat, Bengaluru and Mumbai zones. It aims to address one of the most critical gaps in Indian women's cricket – that of having a pool of pacers.

The numbers tell a stark story. In the 2025/26 Senior Women's Elite T20 Trophy, all top ten wicket-takers were spinners. In the Women's U-19 T20 Trophy Elite, all five leading wicket-takers were spinners. Even in the Women's U-23 T20 Trophy Elite, two of the three highest wicket-takers were spinners. Since 2023, only six pacers and all-rounders have made their India debuts across formats, which is half the number of debutant spinners.

The trend continued during India's U-19 T20 World Cup triumph in 2025, where the top three wicket-takers for India were all spinners – Vaishnavi Sharma, Aayushi Shukla and Parunika Sisodia, finishing among the top four bowlers in the competition.

This recurring pattern highlights a pipeline problem – that India's system for identifying and grooming fast bowlers remains thin, and the Speed Queen initiative represents a potentially game-changing intervention.

“This thought process came when we were discussing how to get to the grassroots now after the Women’s ODI World Cup win was achieved. So, the first thing everyone agreed was to hold the speed queen contest. The question was how to hold it and we then decided to stick to our first thought process - have it first in the districts around the five WPL franchises, which adds up to trials in 25 places.

"This year, we are doing it wherever these franchises are hailing from and we will update accordingly if it will go to other areas in the future. This isn't just a thought process to bring more talent either, it's a first initiative from us so that we can organise more hunts like this to bring it under a common platform and unearth more talented players," said Jayesh George, WPL Committee Chairman, to IANS on Friday.

The process goes like this: aspiring bowlers register in their age group (U-19 or U-23) and select their nearest WPL franchise zone. They then upload side-on bowling videos, preferably with white leather balls, in landscape mode, showing full run-ups and clear ball release.

AI technology, combined with expert coach reviews, screen all submissions. Shortlisted candidates receive invites for physical trials as per their zones. The system accepts videos up to 10MB in various formats like MP4, MOV, M4V, MKV, WEBM and AVI.

Beyond just identification, the initiative offers a clear pathway: selected bowlers could serve as net bowlers for WPL franchises, gaining invaluable exposure and a potential fast track into the main squads, or come into the radar of the national women’s selection committee.

“We have been just discussing every time that this feels like living in the moments after the 1983 Men’s World Cup victory. After that, Indian cricket got a movement in the sport and everything changed. Even though WPL or women's cricket, was here for so many years, we fell just short of lifting the World Cup twice.

“But after this ODI World Cup victory and that too in India, that has boosted our women's team confidence also. A lot of parents are also now in it because they got the boost to show their passion for playing the game to the world.

“It's been very busy in this first week because we are getting so many calls from people enquiring to register themselves properly and all is going well so far. There is a committee that is in place to evaluate all pacers coming in the trials. We have a GM, Amit Siddheshwar, who is looking into this process and we will get a report regarding that.”

“We have also noticed that so many girls are interested now in joining cricket coaching camps and playing the sport professionally. So, this Speed Queen initiative also adds value to growing the whole women’s cricket ecosystem,” added George, who previously served as Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) President.

Former India captain Anjum Chopra sees the campaign as a crucial step in filling the fast-bowling gap. "It's very nice and brilliant because there are always net bowlers around with the team – either travelling or practising. So, these talent hunts literally provide that opportunity to all those players who are unable to break into the WPL to show their talent and rich promise.

“Now, if an opportunity is identified, they can call upon these players, and get them to travel with them. It's about creating opportunities for all those people who have not been able to reach a place where they can showcase their talent.

“So, I feel it's brilliant - you can get an out-and-out fast bowler or a good bowler from this kind of a contest in the country, irrespective of which franchise picks that bowler. But if we can get that talent progressing over to international cricket, then this kind of an effort will obviously be applauded," she said to IANS.

Anjum further believes India has barely scratched the surface of its female fast bowling talent pool. "It's always nice to have hunts like this. I mean, it's such a big and large country with a lot of population. So, maybe we've just started scratching the top crust of this sort of talent. There is still so much to unearth and if this is just the start, then I'm very keen to watch what happens in the future."

Jatin Paranjape, former India international and member of the BCCI's Cricket Advisory Committee who’s also co-founder of KheloMore, had a measured response. "I think it's a good initiative. It's being done a little too late; it should have happened two or three months before the WPL. But it's definitely a positive step. It depends on who the talent scouts are at these trials. You need the right people to be looking for talent," he said to IANS.

While hailing defending champions Mumbai Indians as favourites to win WPL 2026, Paranjape also talked about how pacers unearthed from the initiative can boost the tournament’s Indian contingent quality.

"The WPL has reached a stage where the quality of cricket speaks for itself. The contests are close, the intensity is high, and fan interest keeps growing. Yes, a few overseas players are missing this season due to workload, injuries or personal reasons, while some of them not featuring is more about auction dynamics than quality and that's part of the league's natural growth.

“It creates opportunities for younger and uncapped players, which only strengthens the depth of Indian women's cricket. Teams are now more balanced and adaptable, making the competition even tighter. Mumbai Indians will go in as favourites, and after Harmanpreet Kaur's recent World Cup win as captain, you can expect her to lead from the front from the very first game," he said.

The intent to create a pool of fast bowlers in women’s cricket is something current head coach Amol Muzumdar had said during a WPL 2024 game broadcast in Bengaluru and was noted once by his predecessor Ramesh Powar in 2021.

Whether the Speed Queen initiative yields the next Jhulan Goswami or Shikha Pandey remains to be seen. But the effort itself – using the WPL's growing brand power and resources to expand the fast-bowling pool – is a praiseworthy step.

Even as WPL prepares to take guard for season number four, the Speed Queen campaign is writing the next glorious chapter in India women’s fast bowling story, one trial at a time.