WPL2024: Review - a season to remember

 

The increasingly popular WPL 2024  has come to an end. The season 2 has definitely achieved more success than season one with respect to the number of thrillers and the crowd capacity in the stadiums . This year the matches were played at Bangaluru and New Delhi and the crowd capacity & response in both the venues were generally outstanding which should delight the BCCI top bosses no end and make WPL grow further . The final itself had a capacity of 30000 on the ground .

Let us have a brief review of the 5 teams and their best performers 

Royal Challengers Bangaluru :   

The  winners of season 2 did not have a smooth sailing at all winning only 4 of their 8 games in league stage and couple of close wins like 2 runs over UPW in the league stage 1st game . They were in doubt to reach the playoffs but managed with timely favourable  results . RCB then choked the formidable Mumbai Indians in the final overs of the eliminator and then took advantage of some horrendous batting of Delhi Capitals in the final to win the title . Though they were lucky with some inept opposition batting , their spinners specially Shreyanka and Molineux were outstanding in the tournament . Shreyanka took 13 wickets to get purple cap after an indifferent 1st 3 matches , Asha & Molineux both took 12 wickets . In batting  Mandhana scored 300 runs at 133 strike rate , Richa Ghosh scored 257 runs at 141 strike rate with 10 dismissals as keeper to cap off a great tournament.  The crowning glory for RCB was Elysse Perry with 347 runs at 69 average and and 126 strike rate with 7 wickets to outline her brilliance.  Both the orange cap ( Perry ) and the purple cap (Shreyanka) went to  RCB .

Delhi Capitals  :

The runner up for the 2nd year running , Delhi Capitals looked the best team in the league stage with only 2 defeats and both by 1 run & 6 convincing wins . Led brilliantly by Meg Lanning  and supported by the best bowling attack in the competition, its the Delhi batting that had only a couple of meltdowns and unfortunately their worst batting implosion (10/49) came in the final after an electrifying start of 64/0 in 7 overs . Their batting top order of Lanning (331 runs at 123 SR)  , Shafali (309 runs at 157 SR ) , Capsey (230 runs at 126 SR)  & Jemima ( 235 runs at 154 SR) performed superbly in maximum games while Kapp & Jonassen played some quick knocks . Kapp (11 wkts) , Jonassen (11 wkts ) ,  Radha Yadav (10 wkts) and Shikha Pandey (9 wkts) were consistent in picking up wickets .  It was simply one shocking batting collapse that deprived the best team of the WPL 2024 from their 1st ever WPL title.  

Mumbai Indians:

The 2023 champions started 2024 season with a last ball hiest against Delhi Capitals and actually looked good for another final but had some stutters on the way . Lack of big runs from two of their best performers of 2023 ,  Nat Sciver (172 runs at 119 SR) & Hayley Mathews (180 runs at 113 SR)  affected MI's performance to some extent this season . Mumbai batting generally looked very thin after Amelia Kerr with general lack of runs from Amanjyot, Kazi & Vastrakar. Harmanpreet who played the best innings across the 2 WPLs (95 no vs Gujarat) was the best batter of Mumbai with 268 runs at 54 average & 143 SR . Good contributions came from Amelia Kerr ( 215 runs at 130 SR , 7 wkts ) & Yastika Bhatia ( 204 runs at 121 SR , 7  dismissals) . Sajeevan Sajana provided some brief sparks during the event with some big hitting which is an added bonus.   Sciver (10 wkts ) took the most wickets followed by Ishaque (9 wkts ) and  Shabnim Ismail (8 wkts ) who bowled with express pace. However, the lower order batters inability to close out the game in the last 2 overs from a dominant position in the eliminator cost MI their possible 2nd title . 

UP Warriorz:

UPW  had a roller coaster  event & lost a couple of games they should have won. Lack of quality & consistency from their Indian batting talent laid them low.  Their overseas talent also had a mediocre tournament with Healy , McGrath , Athapaththu producing underwhelming performances.  Grace Harris (188 runs at 136 SR) showed a few sparks  but Ecclestone (11 wkts) had a subdued tournament by her very high standards . Amongst the ruins it was Deepti Sharma ( 295 runs , 98 avg , 137 SR , 10 wkts) who stood like a rock and singlehandedly carried the team on her shoulders and her usually timid T20 batting touched new heights with very high strike rate for T20 cricket . Deepti was the player of the tournament.  Great signs for team India.

Gujarat Giants:

Even with some reputed technical heads in the coaching & support group Gujarat Giants have failed to set up an ideal T20 XI across two seasons which is a massive surprise . In fact they had a weaker team than 2023 & did not show much patience in retaining some quality overseas cricketers who could have gelled with more support and the results are there for everyone to see. They took a lot of time to realise that they need some raw power in the top 3 until late in the tournament when they promoted Hemalatha to number 3 . The 2 reputed openers skipper Mooney & Wolvaardt took time to settle down till late in the event . Their trump  card Ash Gardner (120 runs, 7 wkts) had a subdued tournament which further affected Gujarat's chances while Litchfield 's form of last year end deserted her . Sneh Rana, Meghna Singh were dissappointments and only TP Kanwar (10 wkts) was the shining light in their flat bowling resources. There was some late sparks from big hitter  Fulmali & seamer Shabnam Shakil with some hope for the future . Only Mooney (285 runs , 47 avg , 141 strike rate ) boasted good returns as a batter with some bright sparks from Wolvaardt ( 167 runs , 129 SR) . Gujarat Giants needs to revamp their team with special attention to their slim bowling resources .

All in all a great WPL . More tight matches to remember in the second season along with great crowd presence in the stadiums. Womens cricket is finally up & running in India