Players put on their predictor’s hat ahead of the 2nd edition of the WPL. The Indian stars from various franchises have put on their predictor’s hat as they pick their players to watch out for from various categories ahead of the 2nd edition of the WPL.
The upcoming 2nd edition of the WPL will commence on 23rd February 2024, which is just a couple of days away. This time around, the tournament will be played in two cities the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore and the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
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 Delhi Capitals skipper Meg Lanning was the tournament’s leading run-scorer with 345 runs to her name at an impressive average of 49.28 in 9 innings in the inaugural edition of the WPL and, as a result, was the orange cap winner.
Renuka Singh and Shafali Verma have backed the Indian middle-order batter Jemimah Rodrigues to go past the DC skipper Meg Lanning’s tally of runs in the inaugural edition. She is a much-improved player in the shorter format, scoring 240 runs at an average of 26.66 in 12 innings for India in the T20I format since the conclusion of the Inaugural edition of the WPL. She led Mumbai to a title triumph in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy in October-November 2023. She was the leading run-scorer of the tournament with 473 runs to her name at an impressive average of 67.57 in 10 innings. She can be a prime contender for the orange cap in the upcoming edition of the WPL.
On the other hand, Jemimah Rodrigues has backed India’s swashbuckling opener Shafali Verma to surpass Meg Lanning’s tally of 345 runs. She was the 2nd highest run-scorer for the Delhi Capitals last season with 215 runs at an average of 35.83 in 7 innings for Haryana in the Senior Women’s T20 Trophy. She scored 272 runs at a strike rate of 121.97 in 12 innings at an average of 24.72 for India in the T20I format since the conclusion of the inaugural edition of the WPL. Her tally of runs included three half-centuries. She is also one of the prime contenders for the orange cap in the upcoming edition.
However, the vice-captain of the UP Warriorz Deepti Sharma, and the wicket-keeper batter from Mumbai Indians Yastika Bhatia have backed Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur to score the most runs for the upcoming edition of the tournament. The RCB skipper Smriti Mandhana had a poor season with the bat scoring 149 runs at an average of 18.62 in 8 innings. She is one of the players to watch out for as she would be keen to lead from the front with the bat and provide a good platform at the top of the order for her side with an intent to turn the tables in the upcoming edition of the WPL.
The Mumbai Indians skipper Harmanpreet Kaur had a great season with the bat, ending the season as the fourth-highest run-scorer of the tournament and the 2nd highest run-scorer for Mumbai Indians with 281 runs to her name at an impressive average of 40.14 and an impressive strike rate of 135.09 in 9 innings. She would be gearing up for another good season with the bat for Mumbai Indians in the upcoming edition of the WPL.
(Information sourced from JioCinema / Sports18)