WPL 2023: A Look at Captains of All Five Teams at Inaugural Edition of Women's Premier League

A new era is set to dawn in Indian cricket, with the first-ever Women’s Premier League getting underway in a few days. The tournament has been a much-awaited one and five teams—Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals, UP Warriorz and Gujarat Giants will be out to make history when the competition begins at the Dr DY Patil Stadium on March 4. Some of the top stars in India and international cricket stars will be in action in the tournament's inaugural edition.  WPL 2023 Schedule, Free PDF Download Online: Get Fixtures, Time Table With Match Timings in IST and Venue Details of Women's Premier League Inaugural Season.

The five participating teams have named their respective captains for the season. All franchises have assembled power-packed squads and it promises to be a fascinating tournament. As the competition gets underway, let us take a look at the five captains of the teams.

Smriti Mandhana (Royal Challengers Bangalore): The Indian opening batter was signed by RCB for a whopping Rs 3.4 crore at the inaugural auction, making her the most expensive player of the tournament. RCB have managed to put together an array of star cricketers and Mandhana, the number three-ranked T20I batter, has been tasked with leading the side. Picking Mandhana as the captain was an obvious choice, given her stint as vice-captain of the Indian cricket team. A lot will rest on her shoulders if her side aims to live upto the expectations of being a pre-tournament favourite.

Harmanpreet Kaur (Mumbai Indians): Harmanpreet Kaur, the Indian cricket team captain, will lead Mumbai Indians in WPL 2023. The Indian skipper was one of the star players of the auction and Mumbai signed for Rs 1.8 crore. She was the automatic choice for the captaincy of the franchise, given her credentials as the Indian team captain. She has led the national side to many memorable wins and her all-round abilities are second to none. Harmanpreet Kaur will be one of the players to watch out for in the WPL 2023.  WPL 2023 Tickets Online Released, Free Entry for Girls and Women.

Meg Lanning (Delhi Capitals): Australian captain Meg Lanning was the natural choice for leading the Delhi Capitals franchise, given her stature as a world-class skipper. The middle-order batter recently became the most successful captain in terms of ICC trophies won as she led Australia to the Women’s T20 World Cup title. Lanning would have a superb team at her disposal, with her squad having star Indian players like Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues and Shikha Pandey, among others and top international players like Marizanne Kapp, Alice Capsey and also Jess Jonassen.

Alyssa Healy (UP Warriorz): The Australian wicketkeeper-batter will lead the UP Warriorz team in the Women’s Premier League 2023. Healy is vastly experienced and led the Australian team to a 4-1 T20I series win over India in the absence of Meg Lanning last year. Healy won six T20 World Cups and her leadership will be crucial if UP Warriorz are to do well this season. She will have Deepti Sharma, one of India's best all-rounders, as the vice-captain.

Beth Mooney (Gujarat Giants): Player of the Match in the recently-concluded ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 final, Beth Mooney will be captaining Gujarat Giants in WPL 2023. The left-hander is a handy opener and has the ability to take the team off to a good start. This will be her first-ever stint as a captain in an overseas league. She will have all-rounder Sneh Rana as her deputy.

The Women's Premier League is a landmark development in Indian cricket and these five franchises hope to put up a great show and make the competition a massive success.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 02, 2023 11:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).