UP Warriorz's opener Vrinda Dinesh ruled out of WPL 2024, Uma Chetry named as her replacement
UP Warriorz batter Vrinda Dinesh will miss the rest of the Women's Premier League (WPL) 2024 season due to injury.
She suffered a shoulder injury during the first inning of UPW's third game of the season against Mumbai Indians (MI) on February 28. She did not take the field after that and also did not bat in the second innings.
WPL released an official statement confirming that Vrinda is ruled out of the season. UPW has chosen wicket-keeper batter, Uma Chetry as her replacement. Vrinda was signed by the franchise with a hefty paycheck of ₹1.3 crores, the second highest at the WPL 2024 auction.
It is a big blow for UPW now that Vrinda won't be available for them for the rest of the season. WPL's official statement on the matter read:
"UP Warriorz’s Vrinda Dinesh is ruled out of the remainder of the TATA Women’s Premier League after suffering a shoulder injury during Match 6 (28th February) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru against Mumbai Indians."
The statement continued:
"The UP Warriorz have signed wicket-keeper batter Uma Chetry as a replacement at her reserve price of INR 10 lakhs. Uma recently played for India A against England A and was also a part of the victorious India A Emerging squad that won the ACC Emerging Women’s Asia Cup 2023."
Vrinda Dinesh could not score much in the two innings she played for UPW in WPL 2024
The pressure of the big-money contract seemed to have weighed down on Vrinda Dinesh during WPL. She could not score much in the two innings she played for UPW this season. She opened the innings in both the first two games of UP Warriorz this season and scored 18 and 0 in them.
UPW also suffered disappointing losses in those games to make things worse. The team management then promoted Kiran Navgire to the opening position in the third match against MI when Vrinda got injured. Navgire made an instant impact with an aggressive match-winning half-century in that game.