“I’d want Ellyse Perry and Phoebe Litchfield’s wicket, She’s a player who’s batting I admire a lot.” Keerthana Balakrishnan speaks about her aspirations in the WPL.
The Inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League was a blockbuster success. The WPL 2024 auctions took place in December 2023. All the teams retained a certain amount of players and released a few of them ahead of the auctions. Mumbai Indians led by skipper Harmanpreet Kaur were crowned the inaugural champions by defeating the Delhi Capitals led by skipper Meg Lanning by 7 wickets in the final.
The teams will come into the new season with a rejuvenated approach with the inclusion of fresh faces in every squad. The story of the inclusion of the 23-year-old batting all-rounder from Tamil Nadu who bowls leg-spin became the first player from Tamil Nadu to get picked in the Women’s Premier League. She was picked up by Mumbai Indians at a base price of 10 Lakhs in the WPL 2024 auctions.
“I’d want Ellyse Perry’s wicket and another player is Phoebe Litchfield, she’s a player whose batting I admire a lot so if I get a chance I’d really like to pick her wicket.” The 23-year-old all-rounder speaks about her aspirations for the upcoming edition of the WPL.
She plays for Tamil Nadu at the domestic level. Her most recent outing for her domestic side came in November 2023 in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy. She was the leading wicket-taker for her side with 12 wickets to her name at an impressive economy of 5.40 and an average of 10.50 in 7 innings for Tamil Nadu. “I wanted more Tamil Nadu players to represent the state in the WPL but since I’m the first player to be playing in the league, I hope this inspires youngsters to come up and give them the opportunity that they could knock the doors of the next level. I really wish this happen.” The 23-year-old all-rounder Keerthana Balakrishnan speaks about inspiring youngsters from Tamil Nadu to take up the sport and pursue it at a higher level.
The defending champions led by skipper Harmanpreet Kaur will come up against the runners-up of the inaugural edition of the WPL, in Delhi Capitals led by skipper Meg Lanning on 23rd February 2024 (Friday) to kickstart the 2nd edition of the Women’s Premier League.
(Quotes sourced from The Quint).