The Women’s Premier League (WPL) was won by the Mumbai Indians (MI) in its inaugural edition, with the team’s cohesive unit, led by India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, working together seamlessly. However, the tournament proved to be a challenge for many Indian players, both as captains and players, with the heat of the competition proving too much for some of the top Indian players. MI’s success was largely due to the contributions of imports Hayley Matthews, Natalie Sciver-Brunt, and Issy Wong. Matthews was named player of the tournament, with 271 runs and 16 wickets. Among the Indian players in MI, left-arm spinner Saika Ishaque performed well with 15 wickets. Yastika Bhatia also made it to the top 15 batters. However, some of the best names in Indian cricket, such as Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, and Richa Ghosh, were missing from the top tables. Shafali Verma was the only other Indian batter in contention, with 252 runs from nine innings. The foreign contribution to MI and other franchises’ causes cannot be discounted. The tournament highlighted areas for improvement for Indian players, with hopes that their contributions will be bigger in future tournaments to strengthen India’s women’s cricket reserves.
