Statistical Analysis of top performers in WPL 2024

Royal Challengers Bangalore led by skipper Smriti Mandhana clinched their maiden trophy in franchise cricket, ending a 17-year-long wait. Smriti Mandhana became the first captain to win a trophy for Royal Challengers Bangalore. After multiple years of heartbreak, for all the RCB fans, and the players, the slogan “Ee Saala Cup Namde” finally turns into a reality in the 2nd edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) on 17th March 2024 (Sunday), a historic day that will always be etched in the memories of all the RCB fans and players.

Team Seedings:

Gujarat Giants

Their campaign in the 2nd edition led by skipper Beth Mooney had a similar story to their inaugural campaign as they ended up at the bottom of the table with four points from eight games. In a campaign that was yet again plagued with injuries, a couple of players, the likes of, Lauren Cheatle, and Kashvee Gautam, were ruled out even before the 2nd edition of the WPL got underway. They also went on to lose Harleen Deol who was one of their top run-scorers with the bat in the inaugural edition of the WPL.

They pushed themselves towards a knockout situation with four straight losses to start their campaign in the 2nd edition of the tournament. They had to win all their remaining four games to stand a chance to qualify for the playoffs. However, they kickstarted their resurgence with a comfortable 19-run victory over the eventual champions of the 2nd edition, Royal Challengers Bangalore to keep their hopes alive. But in their next three games, they just managed a solitary 8-run victory over UP Warriorz, eventually, that wasn’t enough for them to progress to the knockout stages of the tournament. However, there were a lot of positives as a few emerging stars from the domestic level, the likes of Tanuja Kanwer, Shabnam Shakil, and Bharti Fulmali who came in as a replacement for Harleen Deol, displayed impressive performances in the second half of the season.

UP Warriorz

Led by skipper Alyssa Healy managed to reach the eliminator in the inaugural edition where they were they crashed out of the season with a 72-run defeat against the eventual inaugural champions Mumbai Indians. After adding a few new faces to the squad for the 2nd edition, they had a poor start to their campaign as they slipped to a couple of defeats, against RCB and DC. However, they bounced back with a couple of comprehensive victories against MI and GG. They narrowly missed out on a spot in the knockouts courtesy of their 8-run defeat against Gujarat Giants in their last league game of the season.

Mumbai Indians

Led by skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, they were crowned as the inaugural champions of the Women’s Premier League. They were the side that made fewer changes in their squad for the 2nd edition of the WPL. They continued from where they left in the Inaugural edition of the WPL. They had another impressive campaign as they finished 2nd on the points table with 10 points from eight games. At no point in their campaign did they lose a couple of games on the bounce, highlighting their remarkable ability to bounce back from a defeat. Their defeats in their campaign in the 2nd edition came against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Capitals, and the UP Warriorz. They missed out on finishing at the top of the points table and hence they had to go through the eliminator route to make it to the final, much like they did in the inaugural edition. They were in full control for the major part of the run chase in the eliminator against RCB after restricting them to 135/6 in their quota of overs. However, RCB stunned the defending champions as they snatched victory from the jaws of defeat by successfully defending 20 runs from the last three overs to terminate the Mumbai Indians campaign in the 2nd edition of the WPL.

Delhi Capitals

Led by skipper Meg Lanning had a great campaign in the inaugural edition of the WPL as they finished at the top of the points table which earned them a direct spot in the final. However, they ended up as the runners-up in the inaugural edition of the tournament. They followed that up with another impressive campaign, yet again finishing at the top of the points table with 12 points to their name in the league stages. Their couple of defeats came against UP Warriorz and Mumbai Indians. Earned another direct qualification to the final, with the hope to go one step further and clinch the title, however, they failed to stop the RCB juggernaut led by Ellyse Perry to end up on the losing side in the final, but not before a spirited fightback while defending a 114-run target.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Led by skipper Smriti Mandhana they had a season to forget in the inaugural edition. Unlike their inaugural campaign last year, they had a good start to their campaign in the 2nd edition with back-to-back victories against UP Warriorz and Gujarat Giants. However, they just managed a couple of victories in their remaining six games, just managing to sneak through to the knockout stages of the tournament. They stunned Mumbai Indians in the eliminator by five runs to make their maiden appearance in the final. They displayed remarkable spirit and determination to wrap the Delhi Capitals innings to 113 with nine balls to spare after being taken to the cleaners in the powerplay. The RCB batting lineup held their composure to clinch a tricky low-scoring thriller to claim their maiden WPL trophy, ending a 17-year-long wait for a trophy in franchise cricket.

Most Runs:

Highest Individual score:

Best Bowling Figures in an Innings: