The inaugural edition's winner Mumbai Indians will bank on their core group of players while two-time finalists Delhi Capitals will expect fireworks from Shafali Verma when they face-off in the second game of the Women's Premier League here on Saturday. The finalists of the first WPL in 2023, both Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals made it to the knockouts in the second edition last year but lost to the eventual champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the eliminator and the final respectively. Those defeats were certainly not reflective of how well MI and DC had fared until the knockouts stage, with Harmanpreet Kaur's side finishing second in the points table with five wins in eight matches and Meg Lanning's team topping it with six wins in as many outings. The winners of WPL 2023, Mumbai Indians tend to lean on their core group of players both overseas and Indian and a similar approach can be expected this year, with only a few changes taking place in terms of squad composition. India pacer Pooja Vastrakar, who was grappling with an unspecified injury, was ruled out of the competition and has been replaced by slow left-arm orthodox bowler Parunika Sisodia, who was one of the main performers in India's title-winning campaign in the U-19 Women's T20 World Cup recently. Mumbai Indians have let go of England's Issy Wong, who took the first-ever WPL hat-trick in 2023, after the player lost form and the franchise found the leader of their attack in South Africa's Shabnim Ismail. Among domestic talents, another member of the U-19 T20 World Cup winning squad G Kamalini would be one to watch out for, having finished as the third highest scorer in the competition with 143 runs in seven matches. Apart from a strong leader in Harmanpreet, MI have strong figures from other international sides such as Nat Sciver-Brunt (England), Hayley Matthews (West Indies), Amelia Kerr (New Zealand), as well as South Africans Nadine de Klerk, Shabnim Ismail and Chloe Tryon. While Yastika Bhatia is MI's No 1 wicketkeeper-batter, other Indian players in Saika Ishaque, Sajana Sajeevan, uncapped Akshita Maheshwari and Amanjot Kaur will be expected to play their roles to perfection. On their part, Delhi Capitals will be keen to do one better after finishing as runner-up for two times in a row ever since the competition began. One of the most consistent teams in the competition, the Lanning-led Delhi have strong talent base across departments but the key will be to deliver in crucial matches. All eyes will be on the explosive Indian batter Shafali who has responded to her exclusion from the Indian side with runs in domestic cricket. She forms a lethal opening pair with Lanning at the top, while the likes of Australia's Annabel Sutherland, England's Alice Capsey and India's Jemimah Rodrigues form the core of their middle order. All-rounder Sutherland will hope to draw inspiration from her recent success of having struck 163 in the only Test of the women's Ashes followed by winning the highest individual honour in Australian cricket. While Delhi boasts of three wicketkeeper-batters in India's Taniyaa Bhatia, Nandini Kashyap and Scotland's Sarah Bryce, their bowling looks settled with Marizanne Kapp as the leader of the attack, backed by Australia's Jess Jonassen, India's Radha Yadav and Shikha Pandey as well as Titas Sadhu.
India's star batter Shafali Verma revealed that she enjoys watching England's Liam Livingstone bat but her role model is the legendary Sachin Tendulkar.
Rohit Sharma's poor run of form has not allowed Mumbai Indians to set the tone in the Indian Premier League ((IPL) so far, believes former Indian women's captain Anjum Chopra.
India beat Bangladesh by 59 runs in Women's Asia Cup
Images from the Women's Premier League 2023 match between Delhi Capitals and Gujarat Giants played at the D Y Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Saturday.
India's Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma have retained their third positions in the latest ICC Women's T20I batter and bowlers' rankings respectively, released on Tuesday.
Invited to bat, Shafali, a regular in the India senior team, and Sehrawat, stitched a 111-run stand for the first wicket.
Smriti Mandhana smashed a blistering 47-ball 81 to power reigning champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a resounding eight-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals
Batting sensation Shafali Verma will chase history when she leads India against England in the first-ever ICC Under-19 Women's T20 World Cup final on Sunday.
Shafali wants to make the visit to South Africa even more memorable with another silverware.
The opener has played a couple of Tests, six ODIs and 28 T20 Internationals since making her debut
Set a target of 151 after opting to field, Velocity completed the chase with 10 balls to spare.
Delhi Capitals will be aiming to claim the top spot, while UP Warriorz will be desperate to register their first victory of the season when the two sides face off in the Women's Premier League in Bengaluru on Saturday.
India opener Shafali admitted that Sri Lanka are no longer only dependent on their skipper Chamarai Athapaththu.
Apart from Shafali's knock, Sixers skipper Ellyse Perry hit 27 runs off 33 balls as they reached 129 for five in 19.3 overs.
West Indies' Chinelle Henry smashed a 23-ball 62, including eight sixes and two fours, to equal the record for the fastest fifty in the Women's Premier League.
Harmanpreet Kaur's quickfire fifty and Nat Sciver-Brunt's fine all-round showing lifted Mumbai Indians to their second Women's Premier League title.
Images from the Women's T20 World Cup match between India and Sri Lanka in Dubai on Wednesday.
Smriti Mandhana, Ellyse Perry, Shafali Verma, Meg Lanning and Harmanpreet Kaur were some of the big names retained by their respective franchises for the next edition of the Women's Premier League.
She achieved the feat in a T20I against West Indies at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium.
Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur lauded Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh after their match-winning knock
India registered a hard-fought six-wicket win over arch rivals Pakistan, keeping their semi-final hopes alive in the Women's T20 World Cup.
Harmanpreet Kaur, the Indian captain, unleashed a devastating performance against Sri Lanka in the Women's T20 World Cup in Dubai on Wednesday.
Shefali joins the trio of T20 skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (Sydney Thunder), opener Smriti Mandhana (Brisbane Heat) and all-rounder Veda Krishnamurthy (Hobart Hurricanes), which has featured in the WBBL.
Dashing opener Shafali Verma smashed 81 off 48 to power India to 178 for 3.
The Grade B has an annual retainer fee of Rs 30 lakh and veterans such as Jhulan Goswami, Mithali Raj and Deepti Sharma are among 10 players in this bracket.
India's limited overs vice-captain Smriti Mandhana slammed a 39-ball 45 to power defending champions Sydney Thunder to a six-wicket win over Sydney Sixers in the Women's Big Bash league.
Taking a dig at the controversial run-out decisions that played a big role in her team's last-ball, two-wicket defeat to Delhi Capitals, Mumbai Indians coach Charlotte Edwards said it was "really hard" to comprehend such calls that affect the eventual outcome of the match.
In fact, Bangladesh hardly recovered from the deep wounds inflicted by Renuka in the first six overs.
ndia will not get a better opponent than New Zealand, which is not a fancied side like its Trans-Tasman neighbour. But the two-time runners-up are as tough as nails.
Shafali was presented with India Women's ODI cap number 131 from captain Mithali Raj
India vice-captain Smriti Mandhana defended her team's ultra-defensive batting approach in a chase of 106 runs against Pakistan.
Shafali Verma, the young Indian opener, stole the show on the opening day of the one-off women's Test against South Africa, smashing a record-breaking double century.
16-year-old Shafali Verma announced her emergence on the global stage by becoming the second highest run getter in the ongoing tournament. She has so far scored 161 runs, hitting 18 fours and nine sixes in four matches, at an astounding strike rate of 161.
Five years ago, a starry-eyed Shafali Verma wrestled through a vociferous crowd at the nondescript Lahli ground in Haryana to get a glimpse of her idol Sachin Tendulkar, the moment that inspired the then 10-year-old to take up the game.
India surpassed that mark when Richa Ghosh hammered a four in the first ball of the 109th over bowled by Annerie Dercksen.
India, having secured two convincing victories, will be looking to complete a clean sweep of the women's ODI series against Ireland in the third and final match. The Indian team is brimming with confidence after a series of impressive batting performances, particularly from Pratika Rawal and Smriti Mandhana, who have formed a formidable opening partnership. Despite their strong batting, India's bowling has shown some vulnerabilities, allowing Ireland to score a respectable 254/7 in the previous match. The absence of key players like Shafali Verma and Harmanpreet Kaur has given opportunities for emerging players to shine. The series has highlighted the impressive performance of Pratika Rawal, who has made the most of her chances. The Irish team has been led by the strong performances of Gaby Lewis, Christina Coulter-Reilly, and Leah Paul, but their fielding has been a concern. The match is scheduled to begin at 11 am in Rajkot.
India need victory big enough to boost its net run-rate (NRR) when they face Sri Lanka on Wednesday.
Relentless accuracy by the bowlers, led by Radha Yadav, drove India to a comfortable 59-run victory over New Zealand in the first women's ODI in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
India's teen batting sensation Shafali Verma is set to play for Birmingham Phoenix in the inaugural edition of The Hundred and might also turn up for a Sydney franchise in the Women's Big bash League later in the year.
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