Best playing XI of WPL 2023 ft. Harmanpreet Kaur, Grace Harris
The Mumbai Indians (MI) pulled the curtains down on WPL 2023 by tasting glory in the inaugural edition. The Harmanpreet Kaur-led outfit clinched the trophy with a seven-wicket victory over the Delhi Capitals (DC) in the summit clash at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.
Having restricted the Capitals to 131/9, Mumbai stuttered along in their chase before Natalie Sciver-Brunt dropped anchor for a dogged unbeaten 60 to see her side through to the title.
The inaugural WPL 2023 season saw a number of individual performances that took the tournament by storm. While it is hard to prune it down to just 11, it is an attempt we make in this listicle.
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We pick our playing XI from WPL 2023 keeping in mind the limit of four overseas players.
Openers - Shafali Verma and Yastika Bhatia (wk)
Yastika Bhatia grabs the โEmerging Player of the Yearโ award ๐ฅ
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The Indian duo of Shafali Verma and Yastika Bhatia were amongst the best openers on display in WPL 2023.
Shafali compiled 252 runs at a strike rate of 185.29 for the Capitals. The left-handed Yastika returned 214 runs at a strike rate of 112.04, making multiple pivotal contributions that saw her win the Emerging Player of the Season award.
It was tough to ignore the performances of Meg Lanning and Sophie Devine, but the need to restrict the playing XI to just four overseas players meant that they were unfortunate to miss out.
Yastika, by virtue of her neat glovework, will also be the side's wicket-keeper.
Middle Order - Hayley Matthews, Natalie Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Grace Harris and Dayalan Hemalatha
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The MI all-rounder duo of Hayley Matthews and Natalie Sciver-Brunt select themselves in this playing XI.
While Matthews opened the innings for Mumbai, she slots in at No. 3 on the back of 271 runs, apart from topping the wicket charts with 16 scalps. She also walked away with the Most Valuable Player honors.
Sciver-Brunt turned in consistent contributions throughout WPL 2023 to finish with runs with the bat, apart from taking the new ball and bagging wickets.
Be it as a batter or as captain, Harmanpreet Kaur barely put a foot wrong throughout the season. She set the tone with a blistering half-century on the opening day and didn't look back thereafter, making batting look easy on two-paced surfaces as well. She compiled 281 runs at a strike rate of 135.09 and walks into this playing XI as its captain.
It was hard to find a batter in WPL 2023 who was more destructive than Grace Harris. She played a huge role in the UP Warriorz qualifying for the Eliminator, scoring 230 runs in five innings at an average of 57.50 and a strike rate of 165.46. She also chipped in with useful overs with the ball, often operating in the powerplay.
Dayalan Hemalatha partners Harris to form a destructive finishing combination. Hemalatha didn't fetch big runs throughout the tournament, although she made invaluable contributions towards the back end of the innings and racked up 151 runs at a strike rate of 157.29 for the Gujarat Giants (GG).
Bowlers - Issy Wong, Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey and Saika Ishaque
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Aside from picking up the first hat-trick in the history of the competition, Issy Wong was at her penetrative best throughout WPL 2023. She finished with 15 wickets from 10 games at an economy rate of 6.46.
Partnering her in the seam attack is Shikha Pandey, who was beyond doubt the best Indian seamer on display with 10 wickets at an economy rate of 6.59.
Deepti Sharma didn't enjoy a tournament as good as she'd have liked by her standards, but still made her presence felt and bowled the difficult overs with the ball. She finished with nine wickets from as many games at an economy rate of 8.87. The off-spinner makes this playing XI purely as a bowler, having endured a forgettable time with the bat.
Saika Ishaque was undoubtedly the find of WPL 2023, having led the way for MI with her crafty left-arm spin. Having bagged 15 wickets at an economy rate of 7.00, one would think an India callup isn't far away for her.
Royal Challengers Bangalore's Shreyanka Patil was one of the brightest spots in an otherwise disappointing WPL 2023 campaign for the team. Clearly a talent to watch out for in the future, she made her presence felt with bat and ball. The youngster showed immense maturity under pressure and is the 12th player in this squad.
Sophie Ecclestone, who snared 16 wickets at an average of 14.68, is unfortunate to miss out from this playing XI owing to the overseas limit that has been applied. She was once again at her stellar best for the UP Warriorz, consistently chipping away at the wickets while sending down the difficult overs.
Best playing XI of WPL 2023: Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia (wk), Hayley Matthews, Natalie Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Grace Harris, Dayalan Hemalatha, Issy Wong, Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey, Saika Ishaque (12th player: Shreyanka Patil).