WPL: Uncapped players to watch out for

The Women's Premier League, WPL is an upcoming franchise based Women's T20 league in India, owned and operated by the BCCI. 5 Teams- Delhi Capitals, Gujarat Giants, Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore and UP Warriorz- will play against each other in a double round robin format and the top 3 teams will enter the playoffs.

It is expected to open new doors for Women's Cricket. With the tournament round the corner, here is a list of the top-5 uncapped players to look out for:

Shweta Sehrawat

The Indian Vice Captain at the 2023 ICC Women's U-19 World Cup made her debut in the T20 format last April for Delhi. The bottom handed player is good at using her feet, and playing spin. She turned heads at the World Cup with her instrumental role in steering India to victory in the maiden season of the tournament. She emerged as the highest run-scorer of the tournament with a total of 297 runs in 7 games with a strike rate of 140. She was picked up by the UP Warriorz for 40 Lakhs at the WPL 2023.

Parshavi Chopra

Parshavi Chopra, a 16-year old cricketer from UP scalped 11 wickets for the women in blue at the same 2023 ICC Women's U-19 World Cup at an economy rate of 3.66, and finished as the second-highest wicket taker of the tournament. With leg-spinners in demand in the T20 format, she is likely to be integral in the team's strategy here too. She has been picked up by the UP Warriorz, for 10 Lakhs.

Laura Harris

The Australian batter, Laura Harris, was picked up the Delhi Capitals for 45 Lakhs. She has an impressive record at the domestic circuit of WBBL, Women's Big Bash League- 1061 runs in 107 innings with an average strike rate of 155.8.

Jasia Akhtar

Delhi Capitals picked up Jasia for 20 Lakhs. She scored 273 runs, the second highest in the Senior Women's T20 Trophy at a strike rate of 139- the best among 150+ scores. This performance earned her a spot in the Central Zone Team for the Senior Women's Inter-Zonal T20s where she scored 202 runs, the third highest at a strike rate of 122, the best among the top 5 batters.

She was selected in the 4-team Senior Women's T20 Challenger Trophy where she performed decently too. The 34 year old finished as the leading run-scorer at the Senior Women's One Day Trophy with 501 runs, captaining Rajasthan to a semi-final finish making her an attractive acquisition for the Capitals.

Minnu Mani

The 23-year Minnu Mani from Kerala was picked up by Delhi for 30 Lakhs. She has been integral for the Kerala Women's team and played for India A and India Blue in Challenger Trophy. The all rounder- right-arm-off spinner and left-hand batter was the highest run scorer at the recent edition of Women's All-India One Day Tournament with 246 runs from 8 matches and picked up 12 wickets too.