This Friday, February 23, is the first day of WPL 2024 in Bengaluru. The Women’s Premier League (WPL) will include five franchises: the Mumbai Indians, Gujarat Giants, UP Warriorz, Delhi Capitals, as well as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). The Mumbai Indians won the first WPL title last year. The Gujarat Giants needed to settle for the bottom spot, while Delhi Capitals (DC) emerged as the runners-up.
By adding some interesting new players to their rosters at the most recent auction, all five sides have strengthened their lineups for the WPL in 2024. In the WPL, as in the IPL, a team’s leaders are crucial to its success. Let’s take a look at the five captains who would be leading the side in this year’s Women Premier League 2024
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All you need to know about the five captains ahead of the Women’s Premier League 2024
5) Beth Mooney – Gujarat Giants
Beth Mooney (Source: Twitter)
Strengths: There are a lot of positives to talk about for Beth Mooney. Her hand-eye coordination is one of the best in the business. Her rise to the top has been magnificent to watch. She is amazing between the wickets and whenever she finds the gap, she makes sure of taking more than one on most occasions.
Weaknesses: Mooney is one of the most impressive batters and finding a weakness was a huge task. However, there are some times where her strike rate might have been questionable and at times she eats into balls a lot.
Memorable performance in the WPL: Beth Mooney unfortunately played only the WPL 2023 opener and was ruled out of the tournament following the game due to injury. Therefore, there is no memorable innings as now in the
4) Alyssa Healy – UP Warriorz
Alyssa Healy (Source: Twitter)
The newly appointed Australian team skipper has many qualities of Mahendra Singh Dhoni in her. She is a hard-hitting opener who is known to play the situation well. She is married to Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc and the duo have won many games for their nation.
Strengths: The hard hitting batter is an amazing timer of the ball. The skill set that she possesses is unparalleled and the kind of shots she plays often is a thing of beauty to the eye. Her timing of the pull shot is also pretty lovely to watch
Weaknesses: Swing has been a boon for many top players in the world and it has been a thing that has troubled the Australian skipper. On surfaces that help the bowlers, she might struggle early on and might edge one to the slips or keeper.
Memorable performance in the WPL: Alyssa Healy relished the humid Mumbai weather as she scored runs at a rapid pace and prevented RCB from posing a threat to their target of 139. Healy was unlucky not to have created history, as she was undefeated at 96 runs and only four runs short of being the first WPL hundred.
3) Meg Lanning – Delhi Capitals
Meg Lanning (Source: Twitter)
Meg Lanning was, is and will always be the face of Women’s cricket in the world. Her amazing era of dominance as Australian captain will always be remembered in history.
Strengths: Having a leader like Meg Lanning in the squad is a bonus for any side. With the amount of titles that the former Australian batter has won, it seems impossible not to make her the captain of the side.
Weaknesses: There are absolutely no weaknesses in the game of the Australian legend. However, if we have to point out something, it might be her lack of sweep shots or how less the iconic player uses it.
Memorable performance in the WPL: In nine games, the Delhi Capitals batsman averaged 49.28 and scored 345 runs. The Australian batsman struck with a strike-rate of 139.11, which was just astounding. Her best innings came against the Royal Challengers Bangalore as she notched up yet another half century at a great pace
2) Harmanpreet Kaur – Mumbai Indians
Harmanpreet Kaur (Source: Twitter)
Team India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, is one of the finest middle order batters in the world right now. She has been known for playing the situations and fighting tough battles out in the field. She is also the skipper of the Mumbai Indian in the Women’s Premier League and led the side to their maiden title in the inaugural season of the tournament.
Strengths: Everybody remembers her knock during the ODI World Cup 2017 against Australia. That knock proved how hard hitting of a batter she has been since her debut. She is known for finding the gaps and hitting the big shots as and when required
Weaknesses: Harmanpreet Kaur’s aggression is one of the most heated debates in women’s cricket all the time. Sometimes she tends to lose her cool and it might have an adverse effect on the team and the circumstances that follow it. There have been many instances where she lost her cool and the media was there to capture it.
Memorable performance in the WPL: Arguably, the Team India skipper was at her very best in the tournament opener for the Women’s Premier League. While facing Gujarat Giants, she scored 67 runs and that hard-hitting knock was able to take her side to a massive total. In the end, Mumbai Indians won the game by 143 runs.
1) Smriti Mandhana – Royal Challengers Bangalore
Smriti Mandhana (Source: Twitter)
Team India batter Smriti Mandhana is one of the best batters in the world currently. She is currently leading the women’s side of Royal Challengers Bangalore. The Team India opener is also the vice-captain of her national side. She has led the side on many occasions in the absence of skipper Harmanpreet Kaur.
Strengths – Smriti possesses some of the best shots in the textbook. People are simply in awe of her cover drives which splits the cover fielders in half. Whenever she has the confidence, the kind of shots she has in her skill set is amazing to witness.
Weakness – Mandhana has been flawless but whenever she is under pressure, it might get to her head easily. So if a lot of dot balls get built up, she might try and play a rash shot and the opponents can scalp her wicket.
Memorable performance in the WPL: In the Women’s Premier League’s inaugural edition, Smriti Mandhana had a torrid time with the bat. Although her most memorable performance came against Gujarat Giants as she scored a vital 37 runs while chasing. She was playing the anchor role in the chase as Sophie Devine smashed the bowlers all over the park. Her knock was essential in ensuring that the team does not lose wickets.
