Mumbai. Indian women cricketers, basking in the joy of their first ODI World Cup win, will make a comeback to competitive cricket in the fourth Women’s Premier League (WPL) cricket tournament starting here from Friday, which will also mark the beginning of preparations for the T20 World Cup to be held in England this year. In the first match of the tournament, Mumbai Indians, led by two-time winners and defending champions Harmanpreet Kaur, will face the only other title-winning team in the WPL, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), led by star batsman Smriti Mandhana.

The fourth WPL will be organized in two phases in Navi Mumbai and Vadodara. In this, young players will get a chance to play with the best players from around the world. This will also give the players a chance to test their preparations for the T20 World Cup to be held in England in June-July. If seen on paper, the Mumbai Indians team looks quite strong. Apart from Indian captain Harmanpreet, it also has experienced players like England captain Nate Sciver Brunt and West Indies captain Hayley Matthews.

Mumbai has retained most of its players in the team and it will be a challenge for any team to defeat them. Their batting has become stronger with the presence of New Zealand’s Amelia Kerr, Australia’s Millie Illingworth and India’s reliable Amanjot Kaur. Shabnim Ismail will lead Mumbai’s bowling attack, which also includes Saika Ishaq. Indian batsman Jemimah Rodrigues has taken charge of Delhi Capitals after Meg Lanning joined UP Warriors.

Delhi team has reached the finals thrice so far but could not win the title. This time she would not like to leave any stone unturned. Delhi has World Cup winner and in-form opening batsman Shefali Verma, Sneh Rana and Sri Charani. Apart from this, it also has Nikki Prasad, Minnu Mani and right-arm bowler Nandini Sharma who have performed well at the domestic level. The Delhi team has many impressive foreign players, including the best batsman of the ODI World Cup and South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt.

Marijne Kapp and Alana King will take care of their bowling, but the team’s attack has weakened somewhat with the departure of Annabel Sutherland. Talking about RCB, apart from Mandhana, it has a seasoned player like Ellyse Perry. Both of them will have the responsibility of giving a good start to the team. Australia’s batsman Georgia Woll, all-rounder Grace Harris and South Africa’s combative all-rounder Nadine de Klerk will take charge of the batting. RCB has a great wicketkeeper and finisher in Richa Ghosh.

India’s Arundhati Reddy, Pooja Vastrakar and England’s Lauren Bell are among the key fast bowlers of RCB. They also have good spin bowlers like England’s Linsey Smith, India’s Radha Yadav and Shreyanka Patil. Gujarat Giants team managed to reach the playoffs last year and this year it will try to perform even better. But the Ashley Gardner-led team will have to rely on foreign players as it does not have any top Indian batsman.

They have the biggest Indian stars in Renuka Singh Thakur, Titas Sadhu and Rajeshwari Gaikwad, while wicketkeeper-batsman Yastika Bhatia will be desperate to make a good comeback after injury. They have Beth Mooney as their wicket-keeper batsman, while veteran New Zealander Sophie Devine is making a comeback this year after being out of the WPL last year. Australia’s Kim is likely to share the new ball with Garth Renuka and Kashvi Gautam, while spin bowling options include Georgia Wareham, Gaikwad and Tanuja Kanwar.

UP Warriors have made the right captaincy choice in Lanning, but apart from Uttar Pradesh’s Shipra Giri, they do not have any specialist wicketkeeper. At the top of their batting order are Phoebe Litchfield, Pratika Raval and Kiran Navgire. However, Pratika’s playing time will depend on her fitness.

Harleen Deol and Lanning can handle the middle order, but the Warriors team will also have to find a finisher. In such a situation, all-rounders Deepti Sharma, Chloe Tryon, Diandra Dottin and Shikha Pandey may have to play double role. India’s Kranti Gaur and England’s Sophie Ecclestone will be the backbone of their bowling attack.

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