With the third season of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) a week away from commencement, let’s take a look at the five important talking points that could have an impact in the current season –
Can the domestic players stamp their authority in the league?
As we have seen in the past two seasons, foreign players have impacted the league more, especially visiting batters who have ended up as top run-getters. With the exception of Shafali Varma and Smriti Mandhana, most Indian batters haven’t performed consistently. As for the bowling, it has certainly improved over the past year with Shreyanka Patil and Asha Sobhana amongst the top wicket-takers but Indian allrounders have left little to be desired with the likes of Elise Perry, Ashleigh Gardner and Marizann Kapp being the more impressive all rounders to make an impact on the league.
The WPL was initiated with the intent to emulate the success of Indian Premier League which has helped unearth hidden gems, thereby improving India’s bench strength in the limited overs cricket. However, it hasn’t been the case so far with the exception of Asha Sobhana and Shreyanka Patil who have probably been the only success stories from the WPL in the last two seasons.
With the Indian Women’s Senior team performing poorly in the ICC tournaments, it remains to be seen if this year’s WPL can bring forth talented players who can compete against the World’s best players and make the cut to the Senior team.
Can the big money signings make an impact for their teams?
The mini-auction of the WPL held in December 2024 saw some massive amounts spent by a few franchises. Gujarat Giants made a marquee signing in West Indian legend Deandra Dottin (INR 1.7 Crore) and placed a bet on hard-hitting batter Simran Sheikh (INR 1.9 crore) being the most expensive signings this season. Mumbai Indians banked on talented youngster Kamalini Gunalan for a massive INR 1.6 Crore while RCB spent INR 1.2 crore on allrounder Prema Rawat in the mini-auction.
It will be exciting to see these players take the field in the upcoming WPL and see how they will prove their worth against the top talents from world cricket.
Four different venues to host the WPL Games this season.
As opposed to last two seasons where there were only two venues where the teams played, this season there are four different venues to host the WPL games namely Vadodara, Lucknow, Bengaluru and Mumbai. The Delhi Capitals might be at a disadvantage here as they won’t be playing in front of their home crowd as compared to the other four franchises who will get to play at their home ground.
Also, playing at four different venues won’t be easy with a reasonable difference in weather conditions and the pitch in these four locations. Only teams having a balanced side with quality batters and bowlers will be able to cope and it will be interesting to see how all franchises set up on different venues.
Injuries to critical players.
While injury to important players can impact their team, having the possibility of getting replacements can soften the blow. Top players like Alyssa Healy, Suzie Devine, Sophie Molineux and Kate Cross won’t be part of the WPL this season due to injuries or personal issues. The worst hit team in terms of missing players is Royal Challengers Bengaluru who have lost out on three players and especially their opener Suzie Devine and allrounder Sophie Molineux who would be vital misses for them. As for UP Warriorz, they will be without one of their most important players and their captain Alyssa Healy which could be a huge blow.
For these two teams it could be a huge disadvantage playing without their first team players but the sign of champions or contenders is how you cope with setbacks and it would be interesting to see how they line up for their games now.
Emergence of new talent breaking through this season.
With India successfully defending their U19 World Cup title again this season, there is no dearth of talent in our youth players. A solid domestic setup has also ensured that talented experienced players can also get a look in.
The likes of G Kamalini, Nandini Kashyap, Raghvi Bist and Prema Rawat are the domestic players to watch out for as they make their WPL debut. Amongst the foreign players, Phoebe Litchfield, Charlie Dean and Sarah Bryce are the ones to look out for as they make their debut in the Women’s Premier League this season.
It will be important though as to how much game time these players will get to make an impact for their respective franchises.
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