The much anticipated Women’s Premier League is all set to kickstart on March 4, 2023. This will be the first T20 franchise league tournament held exclusively for women players in India for the first time. The league has already made quite a name for itself after successful player auctions that saw some big bids pouring in. The main objective of this t20 league will be to uplift women’s cricket and provide a better stage and opportunities for the players.
Needless to say, just as the schedule list is out the fans are already backing their favourite teams, speaking of them a total of 5 teams ( Mumbai, Delhi, Gujarat, UP, Bengaluru) will be fighting it lift the trophy in the inaugural edition of the tournament. The matches will be held in Mumbai across two venues Brabourne and DY Patil Stadium.
Although this is the first instance where these teams will collide against each other but we ourselves have drawn our conclusion based on the history of the franchise and the talented individuals in their roster. These have been put down in form of the power rankings, listing them from the strongest to least strong teams. Let’s dive into it quickly.
1. Royal Challengers Bangalore
The franchise is owned by United Spirits Limited, a Diageo Group company. Prathmesh Mishra, the chief commissioner officer at the Diageo Group, is also the chairman of the RCB franchise. There is no doubting the fan following this franchise has but what has eluded this historic team is a major IPL team, which can be turned around this time with the women’s team.
The franchise knew who they wanted and got hold of some really prominent players like S. Mandhama, E. Perry, S. Divine, and R. Ghosh amongst others. They spent INR 11.90 crore at the auction and went into heavy for targets. Their skipper S. Mandhana became the most valued player at the auction with a bid of INR 3.40 crore. What’s more is that they have added B. Sawyer as the head coach of the side and ropped in famous tennis player S, Mirza as their mentor.
2. Mumbai Indians
Speaking of power rankings you can never leave Mumbai behind. The five-time champions of IPL will surely want to make a big impact in the WPL’s inaugural edition. Making the most of their expenditure at the auction they got hold of India women’s cricket team skipper H. Kaur, while their biggest purchase was England’s, N. Brunt. They also bagged some good players in P. Vastrakar and Y. Bhatia.
To make sure the players get the best of coaching and advice Mumbai has brought in some real experience in their locker room. Former England Women’s Team Captain C. Edwards will take on the role of Head Coach. Padma Shri and Arjuna Awardee J. Goswami take on the dual role of the Team Mentor and Bowling Coach. They have all the right formula to make it big this season.
3. Gujarat Giants
Coming on the back of their inaugural title-winning campaign, the Gujarat Giants will now look to do the same in the WPL inaugural t20 league. Being one of the most valuable women’s cricket teams on the planet, they justified that on the IPL auction floor where they got their desired pick of the players. A. Gardner and B. Mooney were the highlights of their auction. While H. Gala who is just 16 will look to break some major barriers this season.
4. Delhi Capitals
The Delhi franchise has never been able to punch above its weight in the IPL but with WPL now in the picture, they can surely bring about some positive changes. Delhi has got a talented pool of players like J. Rodriguez, S. Verma, and T. Sadhu. They are looking towards homegrown talent to bring them glory. To back the talent pool, you have J. Batty as head coach, H. Kala, and L. Keightley as assistant coaches, and B. George as fielding coach.
5. UP Warriorz
Nothing against the team but they did look out of sorts and ideas at the auction and were unable to get the marquee players which teams like RCB and Mumbai picked for themselves. However, despite that, they did have some good bids which got them a decent pool of talented individuals. S. Ecclestone and D. Sharma were two prominent picks for them. They also made a dent in their purse getting the likes of T. McGrath and Indian all-rounder D. Vaidya.
