WPL 2023: Team of the Tournament so far

The inaugural edition of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) is ten games in, with half of the group-stage matches done and dusted. The response to the tournament has been outstanding, with the exciting and predominantly high-scoring games attracting plenty of viewers and following.

The Mumbai Indians have easily been the best team in the tournament, winning all four of their matches. The Delhi Capitals and the UP Warriorz take 2nd and 3rd place on the points table, with three and two wins, respectively.

DC skipper Meg Lanning is currently the highest run-scorer, while MI left-arm spinner Saika Ishaque tops the wicket-takers charts. They’re not the only top performers in these first ten matches, and in fact, we can create a well-balanced T20 XI of the best players of WPL 2023 so far.

Let’s now look at the Team of the Tournament for the first half of WPL 2023.

Note: The team is built with the same overseas player rules that apply to every WPL team, and any exclusion of deserving players may also be due to them not fitting into the team combination.

Honorable Mentions (Substitutes): Alyssa Healy, Nat Sciver-Brunt, and Issy Wong.

WPL 2023 Team of the Tournament So Far

Wicket-Keeper: Yastika Bhatia

Picking Yastika Bhatia over Alyssa Healy might be a controversial call, especially after Alyssa Healy’s back-to-back half-centuries. However, considering the team balance and the overseas player quota, it makes sense to go with an Indian wicketkeeper, and Yastika is the best in that category.

She has batted fairly well, gradually improving after every game. She has crossed the 40-run mark in her last two games, scoring 41(32) against DC and 42(27) against UPW. Opening the batting has allowed her to make the most of the powerplay, displaying her full range of strokes.

She has also been safe behind the stumps, making four stumpings and taking two catches.

Batters: Shafali Verma, Meg Lanning, Harleen Deol, and Harmanpreet Kaur

This list of players probably requires lesser justification, as their numbers speak for themselves.

Meg Lanning and Shafali Verma have been electric as an opening pair, putting on two hundred partnerships in four matches and scoring 344 runs as a pair. Both are among the top three run-scorers of the tournament, with Shafali Verma’s numbers brilliant since she has a mind-blowing strike rate of 192.47.

MI captain Harmanpreet Kaur will also be the captain of this team, and her inclusion is a given. She needed to bat only in two of the four games and won the POTM award in those two matches. 

Harleen Deol’s performances might have gone under the radar and masked by the Gujarat Giants’ poor form. However, she has excelled at No.3 and has been the only bright spark in a lackluster season for GG. Criticized and losing her spot in the Indian playing XI for her sub-par strike rate, it has been refreshing to see her scoring at 143.01 this season, a number which could’ve even been higher if not for some challenging match situations.

All-Rounders: Hayley Matthews, Tahlia McGrath, and Shreyanka Patil.

While she opens the batting for MI, the potential MVP of WPL 2023, Hayley Matthews, is also a solid bowling option.

It must’ve baffled everyone how Hayley Matthews went to MI for just her base price, let alone go unsold in the first round of the auction. That feeling is further amplified after her terrific performances so far: 168 runs and seven wickets in four matches.

She has been electric with the bat and has picked up some crucial wickets with the ball, accurately bowling her off-spin. 

It was a toss-up between Tahlia McGrath and Nat Sciver-Brunt, but the former has had more responsibility to carry, and her performances bear a bit more significance to the UP Warriorz than Nat Sciver-Brunt’s does to MI.

Ironically, both of Tahlia McGrath’s half-centuries this season have come in losing causes, but that shouldn’t eclipse their quality. Her 50-ball 90 helped UPW prevent a massive hit to their Net Run Rate and could help them toward the end of the tournament. She’s also picked up two wickets in addition to her 140 runs in three innings.

Shreyanka Patil’s performances have been the best thing about RCB’s season. While they don’t stand out stats-wise, she has had a positive impact and could be an X-Factor in T20 cricket. The 20-year-old Karnataka all-rounder has played some quick-fire cameos coming in at No.6 or No.7 and has been one of their better bowlers this season.

Bowlers: Sophie Ecclestone, Tara Norris, and Saika Ishaque

I’d classify Sophie Ecclestone as a bowling all-rounder and feel her batting abilities don’t get the credit they deserve. Nevertheless, the ICC No.1 ranked T20I bowler, Ecclestone, is the 2nd highest wicket-taker of the tournament, with eight wickets in four matches. She also played a vital 12-ball 22 in their thrilling win against the Gujarat Giants in their season opener.

The Delhi Capitals made a brilliant move to sign USA cricketer Tara Norris for her base price at the auction. The teams can play one more overseas player, provided they are an associate cricketer, and DC has made the best use of this rule by playing seamer Tara Norris, who has been electric with the ball in hand.

She picked up a five-wicket haul on debut, rattling the RCB batters. She has only bowled eight overs in this tournament but still has six wickets to her name. 

Saika Ishaque has arguably been the best player of WPL 2023. To pick up twelve wickets in only four matches on batter-friendly surfaces, with short boundaries that have seen so many 200+ scores, is no mean feat. The young uncapped left-arm spinner has outshone every other bowler with her attacking and aggressive bowling. 

Her list of scalps includes Meg Lanning, Alyssa Healy, and Tahlia McGrath, and how India would love to have a player who can accomplish that on the national side! She is easily the find of the tournament and should be playing for India soon enough.

WPL 2023 Team of the Tournament – First Half: 

Shafali Verma, Hayley Matthews, Meg Lanning, Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur(C), Tahlia McGrath, Yastika Bhatia(WK), Shreyanka Patil, Sophie Ecclestone, Saika Ishaque, and Tara Norris.