Gujarat Giants got their first points of Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2025 as they got the better of UP Warriorz in their second game and it was largely due to the young Indian leg-break bowler, Priya Mishra. Following her match winning spell, Mishra shared her thoughts about her gameplan and WPL preparations amongst other things.
“For the WPL, I had planned ahead that I will provide my team with the wickets, try to do my best and come out as winners” says Mishra on her WPL plans heading into the 2025 edition.
Mishra spun a web around the Warriorz middle-order batters, picking up three key wickets of the Warriorz captain Deepti Sharma, and the two experienced international stars in Tahlia McGrath and Grace Harris. Mishra’s spell of 3/25 helped the Giants restrict the Warriorz to 143, which they chased down with relative ease to pick up an important six-wicket win.
Mishra’s first wicket was that of the dangerous Tahlia McGrath, whom she got with a googly and sent the veteran Australian all-rounder home before she could open her account. Mishra spoke about her mindset and getting help from McGrath’s international teammate and Mishra’s captain, Ashleigh Gardner.
“For her (Tahlia McGrath), my captain (Ash Gardner) had already told me to bowl the googly because McGrath can’t read it. So, I bowled the googly itself first ball and after that I thought I would bowl mainly leg-spin on the line of the stumps to keep them on the backfoot as it was skidding a bit. If they played on the backfoot, there would be more chances for LBWs.”
While McGrath was caught on her crease, Grace Harris tried to slog Mishra over cow corner but completely misjudged it to see her stumps being castled. Mishra discussed how she made Harris play into her plans.
“For her (Grace Harris) I had planned, because she is a hard-hitter, (to have) deep square and deep midwicket out and plan was to bowl that ball itself on the stumps and it was also a googly, to (get her to) play on the longer side of the ground and I bowled a googly and got the wickets,” Mishra shares the plan behind sending Grace Harris home.
Mishra’s final strike was the dangerous Deepti Sharma, who was just getting set to help the Warriorz finish with a flourish, but Mishra picked up the crucial wicket to send the Warrioz’s captain home which helped the Giants restrict the Warriorz to a below-than-average score.
“For Deepti-di, I thought that I would bowl leg-spin to her first and once she would be set, then I would throw in the googly in the mix (outside off-stump) and that’s what I did, which resulted in the wicket coming,” Mishra made the experienced Indian all-rounder Deepti Sharma walk right into her trap as well.
Signing off, Mishra shared the explanation behind her celebration where she points to herself and to the ground, stating that it’s a personal belief thing. She said, “After I take a wicket, I do this (point to my chest and then to the ground), it’s me knowing that I belong here.”
The 20-year-old from Delhi grabbed eyeballs when she ended up as the leading wicket-taker in the 2023/24 Senior Women’s One Day Trophy, picking up 23 wickets in 8 matches.
The domestic performances helped her get a call in the ODI team for India’s home series against New Zealand in late 2024, where she picked up the wicket off Brooke Halliday as her maiden international wicket, putting in a tidy and disciplined spell on debut in the second WODI. She was once again economical and amongst the wickets in the series decider, picking up 2/41 in her 10 overs, keeping a check on the Kiwi batters.
She was also a part of India’s tour to Australia, following the New Zealand series and Mishra ended up with 3 wickets from the two games she played, finishing as the joint second-highest wicket taker for India in the ODI series. Mishra rounded out 2024 with India’s home series against the West Indies, where she finished with 5 wickets from the three ODIs, with an economy of 6.06.
(Quotes sourced from video posted on WPLT20 on Instagram)
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