All you need to know about Women's Premier League 2024
The second edition of the Women's Premier League (WPL) is set to get underway on February 23. Finalists of the last season, Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals will clash in the opener. MI will enter the tournament as defending champions. Like last year, five teams will meet across 22 matches in the season. Here is all you need to know about the event.
Here is the schedule
A total of 20 league matches will be played. There will be two playoff matches - the Eliminator (on March 15) and the final (on March 17). Unlike last year, there are no double-headers this time. While Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy Stadium will host the first 11 games, the remaining 11 matches, including the knock-out games, will be held at Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium.
What is the format?
As per the format, all five teams will play each other twice in the round-robin stage. Hence, all sides will get to play eight games in the league stage. While the team finishing at the top of the table will directly qualify for the final, the second and third-placed teams will meet in the Eliminator to determine the second finalist.
Timing and Broadcasting details
The evening games are slated to start at 7:30 PM. As mentioned, there are no double headers this time around. As Viacom 18 owns WPL's broadcasting rights, fans in India can catch the live telecast of the matches on Sports 18, Sports Khel, Colors Cineplex, Colors Tamil, and Colors Kannada Cinema. JioCinema will provide the live streaming.
Six overseas players allowed in each squad
Each squad has 15 to 18 members, with six overseas players each. As per the rules, a maximum of four overseas players are allowed in an XI. However, if a team has an associate cricketer, she can be the fifth overseas player. As many as 15 associate players were bought in the auction across the five franchises.
A look at the captains and head coaches
Smriti Mandhana will lead RCB (Head coach: Luke Williams). MI will be led by Harmanpreet Kaur (Head coach: Charlotte Edwards). Meg Lanning will handle the reins of DC (Head coach: Jonathan Batty). Alyssa Healy will lead UP Warriorz. Jon Lewis will serve the team as the head coach. Beth Mooney will lead Gujarat Giants which has Michael Klinger as the head coach.
Star players from last season
Hayley Matthews was named the Most Valuable Player of WPL 2023. She finished with the joint-most wickets (16) besides scoring 271 runs. Meg Lanning claimed the Orange Cap (345 runs). Harmanpreet won the award for Catch of the Season. Yastika Bhatia secured the Emerging-Player-of-the-Year award. She scored 214 runs. Shafali Verma (13) and Sophie Devine (13) smoked the joint-most sixes.
Delhi Capitals squad
Alice Capsey, Arundhati Reddy, Jemimah Rodrigues, Jess Jonassen, Laura Harris, Marizanne Kapp, Meg Lanning (C), Minnu Mani, Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav, Shafali Verma, Shikha Pandey, Sneha Deepthi, Taniya Bhatia, Titas Sadhu, Annabel Sutherland, Aparna Mondal, Ashwani Kumari.
Mumbai Indians squad
Amanjot Kaur, Amelia Kerr, Chloe Tryon, Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Hayley Matthews, Humaira Kazi, Issy Wong, Jintimani Kalita, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Pooja Vastrakar, Priyanka Bala, Saika Ishaque, Yastika Bhatia, Shabnim Ismail, S Sajana, Amandeep Kaur, Fatima Jaffer, SB Keerthana.
Gujarat Giants squad
Ashleigh Gardner, Beth Mooney (C), Dayalan Hemalatha, Harleen Deol, Laura Wolvaardt, Shabnam MD, Sneh Rana, Tanuja Kanwar, Phoebe Litchfield, Meghna Singh, Trisha Poojitha, Sayali Satghare, Priya Mishra, Kathryn Bryce, Mannat Kashyap, Veda Krishnamurthy, Tarannum Pathan, Lea Tahuhu.
Royal Challengers Bangalore squad
Asha Shobana, Disha Kasat, Ellyse Perry, Indrani Roy, Shradda Pokharkar, Renuka Singh, Richa Ghosh, Shreyanka Patil, Smriti Mandhana (C), Sophie Devine, Georgia Wareham, Kate Cross, Ekta Bisht, Shubha Satheesh, S Meghana, Simran Bahadur, Sophie Molineux, Nadine de Klerk.
UP Warriorz squad
Alyssa Healy (C), Anjali Sarvani, Deepti Sharma, Grace Harris, Kiran Navgire, Laxmi Yadav, Parshavi Chopra, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, S Yashasri, Shweta Sehrawat, Sophie Ecclestone, Tahlia McGrath, Danni Wyatt, Vrinda Dinesh, Poonam Khemnar, Saima Thakor, Gouher Sultana, Chamari Athapaththu.
