The departure of the English player from the WBBL due to national commitments has opened up a lot of opportunities for other players to be selected as their replacement. Some of the most talked-about overseas players by the teams were the Indian players. The last time Indian players played in WBBL was in its fourth edition.
England is going to tour Pakistan for a limited-series tour starting October 14. The tour will end on October 22 and with Australia’s COVID-19 protocols and the proximity of the Ashes due in January, Clubs will have to look for replacements.
India is going to tour Australia for a multi-format series starting September 19 with the 3-match ODI series, followed by a one-off pink-ball Test match in Perth, and will conclude the series on October 11 in Sydney with their third and last T20I match.
The complete tour of India tour of Australia is here👇 #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/NQWLR2heBc
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) May 20, 2021
The opening matches of WBBL, starting October 14, will be conducted in Sydney and as the Indian players will already be in Australia, it will be easy for the teams to take them in their squad rather than flying someone else in, considering Australia’s strict COVID-19 protocols.
According to cricket.com.au, Shafali Verma, Radha Yadav, Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, and Poonam Yadav could be some of the players donning a WBBL team’s jersey this season.
17-year-old Shafali Verma is one of the most talked overseas players and is probably on every team’s list. According to the source, Sydney sixers are close to formalizing a deal with her and spinner Radha Yadav.
JUST IN:
Look who’s joining Women’s Big Bash League this season – SHAFALI VERMA!! 😃😃
She will be playing for Sydney Sixers! #WBBL | @TheShafaliVerma pic.twitter.com/cRYoiZwT3L
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) May 13, 2021
“(Shafali Verma) is on everyone’s list, no doubt,” Sydney Sixers’ list manager and former Australia captain Lisa Sthalekar told reporters on Thursday.
“She loves Australian conditions; we saw that in the T20 World Cup. Each club will have some vacancies and (there may be) an Indian player there that could fit that role…I’m sure that they’re picking up the phone and making those calls. It helps that they’re in the country and they’ve already done the two weeks’ quarantine,” she added.
Cricket Australia’s head of Big Bash Alistair Dobson expressed confidence in getting the services of overseas players amid the pandemic.
“It’s inevitable there will be some hurdles but we have a great experience from last year and we showed our ability to work closely with governments and players and different stakeholders to get players in,” Dobson said.
Source: cricket.com.au
