WPL 2023: Team-wise opening combination for 2nd edition

The Women’s Premier League (WPL) is expected to return with its second edition in February-March 2024. Witnessing last year’s action in the league, it can be said that all teams need to find perfect opening combinations to taste success in the 2024 installment. Mumbai Indians (MI) lifted the coveted trophy in the inaugural season and in this tremendous success, their openers Hayley Matthews and Yastika Bhatia played a vital role with their bats.

Matthews hit 271 runs in 10 matches at a strike rate of 126.04 and ended up as the fifth-leading run-getter. Gujarat Giants (GG), who ended up at the bottom of the points table struggled to get a settled opening pair for the side which became one of the biggest causes of their failure in the season. Their opening batters Sophia Dunkley and Sabbhineni Meghana looked disastrous with their bats. 

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) ended up in the fourth spot at the end of the competition, winning only two out of the eight matches they featured in. In their disappointing campaign, their captain and opener Smriti Mandhana failed to support in-form Sophie Devine with the bat throughout the tournament. In the upcoming WPL season, all franchises will look to go with settled opening combinations to fare well.

Discussing further, let’s have a look at the team-wise opening pairs of all five sides:

5. Up Warriorz- Alyssa Healy and Vrinda Dinesh

Up Warriorz (UPW) captain Alyssa Healy looked superb as an opener in the previous competition. She smashed 253 runs in nine matches at a stunning strike rate of 141.34. With these numbers, she ended up as the second-leading run-getter for the team. In 2024, Warriorz will expect their skipper to continue her excellent work. 

Healy might be seen pairing up with the 22-year-old uncapped India player Dinesh Vrinda. Warriorz signed up Vrinda for a hefty amount of INR 1.3 crore in the WPL 2024 auction and her duty will be to support her skipper Healy and deliver fierce starts to the team consistently. 

Vrinda will carry domestic and India A experience with her in the upcoming competition. The youngster serves Karnataka Women in India’s domestic circle and back in 2021, she also grabbed the eyeballs for becoming the highest run-scorer for her team with 348 runs in six matches of the Women’s Senior One-Day Trophy.