Among the Indian players in MI, left-arm spinner Saika Ishaque was right up there with the No. 5 spot on the bowlers’ list, with 15 wickets. Quite a first tournament for the relative unknown.
Mumbai: There were few surprises that Mumbai Indians (MI) won the inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL). The franchise, led by India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, looked by far the most cohesive unit in the tournament, with the renowned and obscure names, Indian and foreign, working together like a well-oiled machine to overcome most obstacles with deceptive ease, including the final against Delhi Capitals (DC). But while Harmanpreet was blessed with a unit that made captaincy and cricket that much easier, it was not as fluid and smooth for many of the Indian stars, be it as skipper or player. In fact, the WPL heat a bit too much for many of the Indian players who are at the top rungs of the national team.
Truth be told, even for MI it would have been a different story if the imports did not come good. Between Hayley Matthews, Natalie Sciver-Brunt and Issy Wong, MI had three players whose contribution made things so much easier for Harmanpreet.
Matthews would be our pick for player of the tournament, without a doubt. A total of 271 runs in 10 innings plus 16 wickets at the best WPL aggregate and average was unmatched. Her contribution was also evident in the field as she put her head together with Harmanpreet and Sciver-Brunt to drive the MI engine.
Sciver-Brunt didn’t do her or the franchise’s cause any harm at all, with 332 runs and 10 wickets, while Wong was right up there with her seam-up bowling, with 15 wickets. These three were absolute jewels for MI.
Among the Indian players in MI, left-arm spinner Saika Ishaque was right up there with the No. 5 spot on the bowlers’ list, with 15 wickets. Quite a first tournament for the relative unknown.
Yastika Bhatia too had her say, to be among the top 15 batters, quite a boost for the player who often struggles to find a slot in the Indian first XI.
But one look at the top tables and you can immediately see that some of the best names in Indian cricket were missing, by a long shot, not finishing among the top 15.
The biggest name among these for sure was that of Smriti Mandhana. The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper possibly couldn’t quite the heat of captaincy and opening the inning to be consistent. On the contrary, her struggles were quite pronounced, as RCB fell out of contention early on, never to recover.
In fact, the only other Indian batter in contention was Shafali Verma for Delhi Capitals, with 252 runs from nine innings. But she was way to erratic, as has been her problem off late.
That apart, there was precious little from Jemimah Rodrigues or Richa Ghosh, while Deepti Sharma struggled most of the time, especially when in the finishing role that has somehow fallen on her, be it in India or franchise colours.
The top 10 batter had to Indians in Harmanpreet (No. 4) and Verma (No. 9), while the bowlers’ list saw Ishaque at No. 5 and Shikha Pandey at 7, with 10 wickets. No sign of the much talked-about Team India spinners.
Quite telling, these stats. The foreign contribution to MI and the other franchises’ causes cannot be discounted, be it as player of captain — as was the case of top run-getter Meg Lanning for DC or Alyssa Healy for UP Warriorz.
Quite a few lessons for the Indian players. Hopefully their contribution will be bigger as the tournament grows, so that the Indian women’s cricket reserves are as strong as the men’s in the years to come.