WPL 2025: Why is Green Tree Shown Instead of Dot Ball in Scorecard During Women's Premeir League Broadcast?

Star Sports and JioHotstar viewers may have observed the dot ball changing to green tree in the scorecard during the broadcast of the Women's Premier League (WPL) season 3, which got underway on Friday (February 14) in Vadodara.

The WPL 2025 opener at the Kotambi Stadium was a high-scoring contest between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Gujarat Giants (GG), but fans may be curious to know what was the tree symbol appearing on the scorecard under the bowlers section.

Green Tree for dot balls during WPL and IPL have been common since the last few seasons Image Courtesy PTI WPL X Handle — Green Tree for dot balls during WPL and IPL have been common since the last few seasons (Image Courtesy: PTI/WPL X Handle)

Why is Green Tree shown instead of Dot Ball in WPL scorecard?

The tree symbols shown in place of dot balls is part of the Green initiative coined by BCCI in partnership with Tata Group. It's not just a sign, but indicates that every dot ball bowled in a WPL 2025 match will lead to 500 trees being planted.

This initiative was started in the year 2023, when the green tree symbol on a scorecard for every dot ball was seen during the IPL playoffs. This was later carried forward to WPL last season. But, there has been no official announcement this time.

Last year in December, the Board of Control for Cricket in India revealed that the tree number 4 Lakh, part of the Green initiative from WPL and IPL, was planted at the new premises of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru, which is now called BCCI Centre of Excellence.

As it stands, 162 dot balls - (71 in GG vs RCB and 91 in MI vs DC) have been bowled so far in the ongoing Women's Premier League season 3 with Indian pacer Shikha Pandey leading the way with 16 dots in the Delhi Capitals' thrilling win over Mumbai Indians on Saturday (February 15).

Mumbai Indians' pacer Shabnim Ismail closely follows in second with 15 dot ball contributions during the defeat to DC. RCB's Renuka Singh Thakur and MI's Amelia Kerr have also bowled 10 or more dot deliveries.