The Purple Cap is a distinguished recognition for the player who takes the most wickets by the end of the season in the Women’s Premier League (WPL). Most players start the tournament with good spells for their side but only a few are likely to sustain with the consistency factor. The Purple Cap is the award for the player who manages to scalp wickets throughout the season rather than in a few games. The player who outwits the rest of the players in the league and finishes top on the wicket-taking charts gets the Purple Cap in WPL.
Shreyanka Patil, the youngster stepped up for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the crucial matches when the team required her the most taking 13 wickets in the whole season. She didn’t have a good start to the tournament in the 1st two games and had an injury break too in 2 matches where she didn’t play. Apparently, the Delhi leg was just what the team wanted from her. She started the Delhi leg with a career-best WPL spell against the Delhi Capitals 4-0-26-4. She didn’t finish wicketless in the 4 matches she played in Delhi. Throughout the season, she had an economy rate of 7.30 which included her bowling many overs in the death. She had saved her best for the final where she ran through the Delhi Capitals middle order with a spell of 3.3-0-12-4.
Sobhana Asha emerged as the find of the WPL 2024 for RCB with her stellar performances in the tournament scalping 12 wickets. She started off the tournament with all guns blazing taking a 5-fer against the UP Warriorz with a spell of 4-0-22-5. Apart from the fifer, she made sure she picked wickets in the crucial moments of the match to keep her team in the winning position. One of the key moments was the final over she bowled in the eliminator against the Mumbai Indians where she defended 12 runs successfully and also the spell in the final, where she finished on 3-014-2.
Sophie Molineux was the debutant find of the WPL 2024 taking 12 wickets in the season and adding up to the spin trio of RCB. Molineux turned out to be consistent throughout the season, taking wickets nearly in all matches. Her notable performances came in the 2nd match against the UP Warriorz of 4-0-25-3 and then delivered a player of the match performance in the final where she dismantled the Delhi Capitals top order with a spell of 4-0-20-3.
Marizanne Kapp, the fast bowling sensation was at her absolute best in the matches she played in the WPL 2024 taking 11 wickets in total from 7 matches and went wicketless on only 1 occasion. One of her most notable performances came in the match against the UP Warriorz with a player-of-the-match performance where she bowled a spell of 4-1-5-3. She made sure Delhi got wickets in the powerplay and gave good starts in most of the matches she played.
Jess Jonassen, the Australian spin wizard stepped up on the WPL stage taking 11 wickets in 7 matches, and set a different record of taking three consecutive 3-fers in the tournament of 4-0-21-3 VS RCB, 4-0-22-3 VS GG, and 4-0-21-3 against the Mumbai Indians. She aced her bowling performance in the death on multiple occasions notably against the RCB where she defended a close match when RCB required 2 of the last ball.
