Shocking umpiring in WPL 2025 has yet again marred the quality of the tournament, and a great game of cricket has been spoiled thanks to some very mediocre umpiring decisions in Women’s Premier League.

 We at SuperSports360 have written in the past about the poor umpiring standards in the women’s game. Whether it is in international women’s cricket, WPL, franchise leagues, or domestic tournaments, the quality of umpiring is abysmal.

The BCCI and WPL governing council must step in and improve the standard of umpiring in the league. While it is great to see female umpires officiating WPL matches, they must be equally competent and well-trained to handle high-pressure moments.

Delhi wins but question will be raised on some absolutely poor umpiring calls in WPL 2025

Two terrible run-out decisions in WPL 2025  at a very important stage of the game have overshadowed Delhi Capitals’ last-ball victory over Mumbai Indians in the Women’s Premier League.

With 25 runs needed from 15 deliveries, Shikha Pandey was given a reprieve by the TV umpire on a run out call. Shikha looked well short of her crease when the LED lights lit up to a direct throw to the stumps. Since the LED stumps technology in cricket, were introduced to the game, umpires judge a dismissal based on the first moment the lights lit up.

Strangely, in this case, the umpire wanted to create a new approach to the LED understanding claiming that the bails were not fully dislodged from the groove and did not give the batsman out.

Even with multiple replays, we could not determine if the bails were indeed not dislodged from the groove.  But the umpire felt otherwise, not once but twice in the game.

The second instance happened in the final ball of the match when Delhi Capitals needed two runs to win.  Again, the batter looked short of the second run but  Mumbai Indians’ appeal for a run-out was turned down. This shocking umpiring decision in WPL 2025 left the entire Mumbai Indians WPL squad in disbelief. Mumbai Indians would have felt cheated by this decision.

The umpire in question was Gayathri Venugopalan who has in the past been guilty of some questionable umpiring calls.MI captain Harmanpreet Kaur, shared her disapproval with the on-field umpires but decisions taken by umpires (right or wrong) is seldom taken back.

Imagine this situation happening in an IPL game?

Imagine such poor umpiring in IPL 2025—would the reactions have been the same? Given the huge fanbase and financial stakes involved in the Indian Premier League, there would have been widespread outrage.

According to the WPL 2025 playing conditions, both of those controversial run-out calls in WPL should have been given out. The rule clearly states:

“Where LED wickets are used, the moment at which the wicket has been put down shall be deemed to be the first frame in which the LED lights are illuminated and subsequent frames show the bail permanently removed from the top of the stumps.”