The count of Indians at the Australian-origin T20 league, The Women’s Big Bash League, has been a disappointing one. The number of 2 for long had been a stagnant one and if there ever was a change, it only was for the bad with the count down to 0, leaving out an exception as that was the case in the previous edition of the WBBL. Below, we bring to you a detailed report on the same, continue reading.
2015-16 Women’s Big Bash League
The Women’s event at the Big Bash League got underway in the year and it didn’t feature any player from India contracted under the Broad of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), but did feature an Indian-born Australian in Lisa Sthalekar. The season had Sydney Thunder win the title and saw Meg Lanning with 560 runs and Rene Farrell with 26 wickets finish as the highest run scorer and wicker-taker.
2016-17 Women’s Big Bash League
The league had its first Indian signing with Harmanpreet Kaur joining the champions from the inaugural season in Sydney Thunder. The season had an Indian more feature as the Brisbane Heat had locked in Smriti Mandhana as one of their overseas signing. The season saw Sydney Sixers win the title and it again was Meg Lanning who finish with the most runs (502) and Sarah Aley as the highest wicket-taker with 28 to her name.
2017-18 Women’s Big Bash League
With Smriti Mandhana injured, it seemed only Harmanpreet Kaur will be flying to Australia to continue on her stint with the Thunder but a name more joined her trip as the Hobart Hurricane had locked in a deal with Veda Krishnamurthy. The season had Ellyse Perry score 552 runs guiding Sydney Sixers to successive title win, Sarah Aley and Katherine Brunt finished as joint highest wicket-takers with 23 to their names.
2018-19 Women’s Big Bash League
Hobart Hurricanes denied a contract extension to Veda Krishnamurthy and roped in Smriti Mandhana on her return to the league after missing out on the previous due to an injury. Harmanpreet Kaur continued on her fruitful stint with the Thunder. The (05) season had Ellyse Perry again top the run-scorers list with a mountain of runs (777), but couldn’t guide her team to the title win and the tournament had a new team win the title in Brisbane Heat. Heather Graham and Delissa Kimmince finished as joint highest wicket-taker with 22 each.
2019-20 Women’s Big Bash League
The season had Brisbane Heat win their 2nd title and it’d come in successive fashion repeating what the Sydney Thunder had done in the 02 and 03 editions of the league. Sophie Devine with 769 runs finished as the highest run scorer and Molly Strano with 24 wickets was the highest wicket-taker. This was the first edition of the league which didn’t feature any Indian-born player as the couple of regular Indian features were on national duties.
2020-21 in Women’s Big Bash League
The season again didn’t feature any Indian-born player in the mix and it was Sydney Thunder who won their 2nd title in the league. Beth Mooney with 551 runs and Sammy Jo Johnson with 22 wickets finished as the highest run scorer and the highest wicket-taker.
2021-22 in Women’s Big Bash League
The season witnessed a big spike in Indian players featuring in the league with 8 players joining clubs and the main reason behind the same was that Indian players were on Australian soil for a bilateral series just before the start of the Big Bash which favoured many landing into deals with clubs.
The Brisbane Heat locked in Poonam Yadav, the Hobart Hurricanes roped in Richa Ghosh, Melbourne Renegades had Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues feature, the Sydney Sixers had Shafali Verma and Radha Yadav in the mix and the Thunder had Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma grace the show.
The season had a new champion in Perth Scorchers and a player from the squad Beth Mooney finished as the highest run scorer with 547 runs and Amanda Jade Wellington finished as the highest wicket-taker with 23 to her name.
A list of Indian appearances in the Women’s Big Bash League is attached right below.
| YEAR | EDITION | INDIAN PLAYERS | TEAM |
| 2015-16 | 01 | – | – |
| 2016-17 | 02 | Harmanpreet Kaur | Sydney Thunder |
| Smriti Mandhana | Brisbane Heat | ||
| 2017-18 | 03 | Harmanpreet Kaur | Sydney Thunder |
| Veda Krishnamurthy | Hobart Hurricanes | ||
| 2018-19 | 04 | Harmanpreet Kaur | Sydney Thunder |
| Smriti Mandhana | Hobart Hurricanes | ||
| 2019-20 | 05 | – | – |
| 2020-21 | 06 | – | – |
2021-22 |
07 |
Harmanpreet Kaur | Melbourne Renegades |
| Jemimah Rodrigues | |||
| Smriti Mandhana | Sydney Thunder |
||
| Deepti Sharma | |||
| Shafali Verma | Sydney Sixers |
||
| Radha Yadav | |||
| Poonam Yadav | Brisbane Heat | ||
| Richa Ghosh | Hobart Hurricanes |
The upcoming 8th edition of the league will run from the 13th of October to the 20th of November. The Indian signings for the edition see Harmanpreet Kaur hold her contract with Melbourne Renegades after an all-around season in the previous edition, Pooja Vastrakar is next on the list who’s landed in her first contract in the league and it’s come with the Brisbane Heat. The last Indian signing as of 7th September has been that of Jemimah Rodrigues who remains in Melbourne but moves office from Renegades to Stars for the 08 season.