According to a report published in the Hindustan Times, at the end of twenty matches and two weeks-long action-packed cricket, the league stage of the first-ever Women’s Premier League (WPL) has come to an end. Delhi Capitals have qualified their place in the finals. Fans of women’s cricket have waited for a long time for the WPL to happen. The Big Bash League of Australia and the Super League of England have been very successful in their own right. But in order to get women’s cricket to soar further, the T20 League in India had to take place.
So, fifteen years after IPL, the WPL took place having the biggest names step up. Five teams have completed, having played eight matches each. The league stage did not disappoint its spectators in spite of several handicaps that occurred in the first edition of the tournament. There were plenty of brilliant performances coming from both the teams and the individual players too. A remarkably strong sense of cricketing spirit was also seen amongst the teams and in the stadium too as the league stage drew to a close. Here are some major takeaways from this inaugural edition of the tournament:
Overseas Supremacy
Amongst the twenty games that were played during the league stage, fifteen of the player of the match award had gone to the overseas players. This was not much of a surprise though because there were very less domestic players in the teams. But one cannot deny the fact that each team was extremely dependent on its overseas stars. Looking at the list of highest-run scorers in the tournament, the top five names are of the overseas players. If you look at the top-performing bowlers too you will see that Mumbai Indian’s Saika Ishaque is among the top-five wicket-takers.
India Internationals
In the opening game, Harmanpreet Kaur brought a memorable start to the tournament with a blazing knock. Out of the five player of the match awards that have been given to the Indian players in this tournament, three of them were won by her. Shefali Verma too has played a few match-winning knocks throughout the tournament.
Talents From The Domestic Side
One of the major attractions of this tournament is its potential to promote domestic talents. But somehow, this time there were not many domestic names that took the spotlight. But there have been some players who had displayed brilliant performances. Shreyanka Patil and Kanika Ahuja have displayed amazing all-round performances. D Hemalatha too has displayed her power-hitting skills.
Fans Galore
Although it will take some time for women’s cricket to reach its potential, it was very encouraging to find that the crowd kept cheering throughout the tournament. it has a massive full-house attendance too all through the tournament. No matter it was a weekday or the weekend, the fans kept pouring in even after one hour since the game has begun. Even though free tickets were given too but it was indeed encouraging to see the fans come in huge numbers.