For the
first time ever eight Indian players will be featuring in the Women’s Big Bash
League (WBBL). The tournament’s seventh edition began with a fiery encounter
between the Melbourne Stars and Sidney Sixers Women. The growing number of
Indian players partaking in the Australian tournament is testament to how far
the women in blue have come.
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Just two Indians – Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana had been a part of the
tournament in recent years. While five others will be making their debut in the
WBBL very soon.
The Indian
contingent is the largest overseas presence at the competition followed by South
Africa (six), New Zealand (two) and Sri Lanka, Ireland (one each).
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The Indian
players participating in the WBBL are –
The Indian
cricket side’s T20 skipper will play for the Melbourne Renegades in this
edition of the tournament. She had previously represented Sydney Thunder for
three seasons. The tournament comes at a welcome time for her as she looks to
regain her form after sustaining successive injuries.
The Indian
opener will be stepping on the field for defending champions Sydney Thunder in
her third WBBL season. The world class batter has performed consistently in
overseas tournaments and registered her first Test century very recently in a clash
against Australia.
The
17-year-old has already established herself as a world class batter. She was
the number one batter in T20 tournaments until very recently and has been displaced
to the number two spot for now. She will be playing for the Sixers.
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The 21-year-old
will be teammates with Harmanpreet Kaur at the Melbourne Renegades. Her
impressive campaign in England’s tournament The Hundred grabbed the attention
of many as she ended the campaign as the second highest run scorer.
Deepti
Sharma
The all
rounder will join Smriti Mandhana in Sydney Thunder’s camp. She is a brilliant
player who always contributes to the match with either the bat or the ball.
The leg-spinner
has 98 wickets to her name in T20 cricket. Her numbers speak for themselves and
she will be playing for Brisbane Heat.
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The
18-year-old wicketkeeper-batter was signed by Hobart Hurricanes as a replacement
for Lizelle Lee. It will be a learning experience for the youngster.
Radha Yadav
The T20
specialist has gone down the pecking order for the national side and will be
hoping to get back in the playing eleven by displaying good performances for
the Sydney Sixers.
It will be
a good opportunity for the Indian players to get some match practice before the
top international tournaments start again.
