As the world gears up to witness the high-octane action and a series of nerve-wracking encounters at the Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2023 starting Saturday, the cricket enigma seems to only get the better of us. A total of five teams will battle it out to reign supreme in the inaugural edition of the WPL, which will run through March 26 in Mumbai. The players will look forward to going in with a renewed spirit when each team takes on their global counterparts to stake their claim on the coveted trophy. In that vein, let us take a close look at the top five players who could perform exceedingly well at the WPL 2023. (Pic Courtesy: wplt20.com/PTI/AP)
Updated On: 2023-03-02 05:01 PM IST
Compiled by : Srijanee Majumdar
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) broke the bank for India vice-captain and batting mainstay Smriti Mandhana, who became the most expensive player in the history of WPL. The franchise shelled out a mammoth INR 3.4 crore for Mandhana, who had a base reserve price of INR 50 lakh. The lanky opener smashed her career-best T20I score of 87 against Ireland to help India sail into semifinals of the ICC T20 World Cup.
A T20I veteran, Sophie Ecclestone, is currently the number one ranked bowler in the world. Ecclestone has been in red-hot form in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup, where she played a pivotal role in England’s campaign until a disappointing loss at the hands of South Africa came along in the semis. With her impressive spin bowling, she can be a formidable threat on the spin-friendly pitches of India, besides, she can also lend support with the bat lower down the order.
Deepti Sharma has impressed one and all with her distinguished all-round abilities in women’s cricket. Her commitment and versatility is an important asset to the team, making valuable contributions across all departments of the game. She has played two Tests, scoring 152 runs and taking five wickets. In 80 ODIs, she has amassed 1,891 runs and claimed 91 wickets. In T20Is, Deepti has earned 86 caps with 898 runs and 95 wickets to her name. Moreover, her captaincy skills were put on display in the Women’s T20 Challenge 2022, where she led Velocity to the final.
Alyssa Healy, who is set to lead UP Warriorz, will look to continue her stellar run at the WPL. She has played 139 T20 Internationals for Australia and has amassed approximately 2,500 runs for her team, including one century and 14 fifties. She is one of the top wicket keepers in the game and has made an overall 110 T20I dismissals. Healy, who boasts of five T20 World Cup Championship titles, comes with a bag of experience that will be beneficial to the squad as will be her leadership.
Indian talismanic captain Harmanpreet Kaur is a dependable performer for her squad, thanks to her aggressive batting and superb off-spin technique. The 33-year-old brings a lot of experience to the table as Alyssa Healy, having played for India in over 270 matches and scoring over 6,000 runs across all forms.
