3 reasons why Alyssa Healy as UP Warriorz captain for WPL 2023 is the right move
Alyssa Healy will lead the UP Warriorz franchise in the upcoming Women's Premier League season. Healy is not the skipper of the Australian women's team. Still, the franchise have named her as their captain for the inaugural edition of WPL.
Healy has some leadership experience under her belt. She captained the Sydney Sixers Women's team in eight matches in the WBBL, recording four wins and four losses. She also led Australia Women in four T20Is against India Women last year, where the team recorded three victories.
It looks like the UP Warriorz team management was impressed with the way Alyssa Healy led the Aussies in that series as they chose her as their team's first captain ahead of Indian all-rounder Deepti Sharma.
A majority of the fans felt that the UP Warriorz would entrust the leadership responsibilities to Deepti Sharma, but they picked Healy. Here are three reasons why the Lucknow-based franchise made the right move by selecting Healy as their captain.
#1 Alyssa Healy brings a ruthless mindset to the table
Ruthless mindset will be a key aspect of a tournament like the Women's Premier League, where all five franchises have built star-studded squads. In her first statement since becoming the UP Warriors skipper, Healy made it clear that she wants her side to be ruthless.
"The WPL is a tournament we have all been keenly waiting on, and the UP Warriorz have a fantastic squad, waiting to making a splash once things get going," Healy said.
"We have a good mix of experience and youth along with ability and look forward to putting on a show for our fans. We are here to win and be ruthless in our brand of cricket," she added.
The last line of her statement highlights her hunger to win this tournament. Such a mindset will benefit the UP Warriorz a lot.
#2 Australians have formed a habit of winning crunch games
🗣️ "I see it as another game of cricket"
Nasser Hussain speaks to Australia's Alyssa Healy ahead of the #T20WorldCup semi-final match against India today 🏏 https://t.co/HWeVA0osMl
Australia are the most successful team in women's cricket right now. The Aussies know how to bring their 'A' game to the table in the crunch games. They are the reigning Women's T20 World Cup, Women's Cricket World Cup and Commonwealth Games champions.
Notably, the first two IPL-winning captains were also Australians - Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist. Perhaps, the UP Warriorz owners would have considered that fact while naming Alyssa Healy as their captain.
#3 Alyssa Healy has more leadership experience than Deepti Sharma
Though I am happy with the decision of making Alyssa Healy captain of UP Warriorz
but I was expecting Deepti Sharma to lead!
I think grooming Deepti could have been best for her as well as for India!
But Healy is definitely a great choice!
#WPL
#WPL2023 https://t.co/P8JarmaQw8
As mentioned ahead, many fans expected Deepti Sharma to be named as the captain of UP Warriorz because she is from Uttar Pradesh, and is among the top women's cricketers in India. The all-rounder captained Velocity in the Women's T20 Challenge last year.
UP Warriorz might have picked Alyssa Healy over Sharma because of the former's leadership experience. She has captained four T20Is and eight BBL matches. On the other hand, Sharma is yet to captain India Women in a T20I match. She led Velocity to the final last year, where they lost against Supernovas.
It will be interesting to see if the decision to name Alyssa Healy as the captain helps UP Warriorz win WPL 2023.