It’s Day 2 of the Inaugural Women’s Premier League starting of with RCB and the first Super Sunday of the season. It will be a clash of titans when two star-studded teams, Royal Challengers Banglore and Delhi Capitals, take on each other for the first time at CCI’s Brabourne Stadium Mumbai on March 5, 2024.
It will be Smiti Mandhana vs Jemimah Rodrigues, Ellyse Perry vs Meg Lanning, Sophie Devine vs Marizanne Kapp, and Richa Ghosh vs Shefali Verma when star-studded teams of RCB and DC face each other in the second match of the WPL inaugural season.
Both teams had a very impressive auction. They have paid record-breaking prices to get global stars in their squads. RCB made a record-breaking signing for Indian star opener Smirti Mandhana for a whopping Rs. 3.4 crores. Delhi also didn’t shy away from making big buys; they got Jemimah for Rs.2.20 crores And Shafali for Rs.2 crores. But it will be challenging for Delhi to face Bangalore, who looked like the most balanced side on paper after the auction.
Some of the International Players linked to play today’s match joined the camp just a couple of days before the tournament following the long T20 World cup campaign in South Africa. So it will be interesting to see the availability of some foreign players.
Team News
With All the Attention on the overseas superstars, it’s the Indian players who will be most important for the right balance in the playing eleven. Each team can play five overseas players, but one should be from an associate nation.
RCB
With the likes of Ellyse Perry, Sophie Devine, Dane van Niekerk, Heather Knight, Erin Burns, and Megan Schutt in the squad, choosing just four from the list will be a tough task. Indian talents like Disha Kasat will have to handle the batting duty at the top along with skipper Mandhana. Richa Ghosh and overseas all-rounders like Perry, Knight, and Devine will be packing strong middle order. The bowling department will be led by Indian pacer Renuka Thakur Singh. She will be supported by Schutt and Perry.
DC
Capitals have a solid top-order batting lineup; Shefali Verma will open alongside Captain Meg Lanning. Jemimah, Kapp, and Taniya Bhatia will handle the middle-order duties. Delhi’s bowling lineup looked inexperienced, barring Shikha Pandey, but they will have the option to play 5th overseas player after the brilliant signing of Tara Norris from the USA. She might get the chance to play in the first game itself.
Likely Playing Eleven
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Smriti Mandhana (C), Disha Kasat, Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry, Heather Knight/Dane van Niekerk, Richa Ghosh (WK), Asha Shobana, Kanika Ahuja, Preeti Bose, Megan Schutt, Renuka Thakur Singh.
Delhi Capitals
Shefali Verma, Meg Lanning (C), Marizanne Kapp, Jemimah Rodrigues, Alice Capsey/Laura Harris, Taniya Bhatia (WK), Jess Jonassen, Arundhati Reddy,
Shikha Pandey, Radha Yadav, Tara Norris.
Mumbai thrashed Gujrat by 143 In WPL Opener
Mumbai Indians thrashed the Gujrat Giants by 143 runs in the Women’s Premier League opener at DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. MI Captain Harmanpreet Kaur (65), Hayley Matthews (47), and Amelia Kerr (47*) help them reach a mammoth total of 207 runs. Gujarat crumbled for just 64 runs after captain Beth Mooney retired hurt in the very first over. Saika Ishaque( 4-11) and Amelia Kerr (2-12) did the job for Mumbai.
