A long time ago Beth Mooney Joint consistency with high speed, Haley Matthews From a gifted all-rounder to one of the most devastating batsmen in the game, or Shafali Verma’s first instinct being to attack rather than assess the situation, women’s T20 cricket has gone on as normal and on the mantra of runs.To be fair, men’s T20 cricket also went through this phase in the early years of T20. Batsmen had wickets in hand, risk-taking was cautious, and the powerplay was something to be navigated, not exploited.In women’s cricket, there was Charlotte Edwards away, where a strike rate of around 100 separated the best from the rest. There was Suzy Bates, whose greatness was based on consistency and consistency. Even Meg Lanning, arguably the most complete batsman in the women’s game, was more about building innings than finishing attacks from the start.Back then, scores of 120 or 130 were competitive and the team batted first and felt comfortable reaching 140.
Design: Mukesh Sharma
However, seventeen years later, on the eve of another Women’s T20 World Cup, those assumptions have changed, and not because one tournament or one player changed everything.Like men’s sports, it was part of a natural progression.There is always a trade-off in betting. Score heavily or score quickly: rarely both, Unless you are Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.it is.Be that as it may, England legend Edwards scored over 2600 T20I runs at a strike rate of over 100. Bates spent most of his career in that area.Then came Lanning. For a long time, the Australian captain was the bridge between tours. It retained the consistency of the previous generation while adding a level of aggression. Averaging over 36 and striking at around 124, Lanning occupied a niche that few had held before him.And then the game was on again.Currently, Mooney averages around 40 while he tops 125. West Indian Mathews has become one of the most dangerous powerplay batsmen in the world, while Shafali has a career strike rate of around 130.
Design: Mukesh Sharma
And it’s a trend and not just for a few.Among established nations in women’s cricket (top 10), run rates have increased from 5.8 per over in 2009-13 to 7.34 in 2024-25. In 2025, they touched 7.85 – the highest on record.The 27 percent increase spanned nearly two decades.The boundary percentage among elites has increased by almost two-thirds over the years. Dot balls have steadily declined. Hitting sixes, at times, has quickly become the focus of scoring.
Design: Mukesh Sharma
And more surprisingly, the power play is being exploited tremendously. Shafali does not believe in settling down. Mathews sees the first six overs as an opportunity, and the likes of Danny Whitehodge and Phoebe Lichfield finish early. Powerplay scoring has improved over the years, even faster than death overscoring.So the natural question is what has changed? Or what was the motivation for this change in mentality? The number is called franchise league. Women’s Big Bash League founded. Leagues like the Women’s T20 Blast and the WCPL pushed it forward, and the Women’s Premier League supercharged it.The rapid rise in international scoring coincided almost entirely with the maturation of the WBBL and the arrival of the WPL. High scoring cricket became a habit.
Design: Mukesh Sharma
Which brings us to the World Cup.Over time, even the World Cup has begun to reflect the broader changes taking place around it. In 2012, only one team crossed 150 in the entire tournament. As of 2020, there were a total of eight such.In 2023, South Africa recorded 13 scores of 150 or more, while Sri Lanka’s 213 against Scotland was the highest in Women’s T20 World Cup history.The UAE edition in 2024 brought those numbers down again. But this dip says more about the conditions than it does about the direction.Outside the World Cup bubble, scoring rates in women’s T20 internationals continued to rise and hit an all-time high in 2025.And that’s why this Women’s T20 World Cup feels different. The definition of a winning score has changed. 120 once felt commanding. Today, the 150 simply feels competitive.
Design: Mukesh Sharma
However, not every team handled this increase equally. Comparing the previous World Cup (2012-16) with the most recent World Cup (2020-24), England had the fastest – run rate from 6.41 to 7.82 and powerplay score from 6.5 to 7.85 per over.Australia, the dominant side, rose from 6.76 to 7.48. India saw the single biggest powerplay jump from 4.74 to 7.20, a sign of how their top order has been completely rebuilt around aggression. South Africa also climbed rapidly.The one exception is New Zealand, whose World Cup score has actually gone down slightly – they are the only top side not included in the increase.
Design: Mukesh Sharma
And who is driving this growth today? Among batsmen with more than 500 runs since 2023, India’s Richa Ghosh leads the way at a strike rate of around 150 – a designated finisher who has the joint-fastest fifty in women’s T20I history.Behind them are Pakistan’s Fatima Sana, England’s Danny White, Australia’s Phoebe Litchfield and India’s Shafali Verma.
Design: Mukesh Sharma
