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The player retentions of the five franchises ahead of the second season of the Women's Premier League (WPL), to be played in 2024, were announced on Thursday, October 19, with most of them along expected lines.
There were no big Indian players to be released although capped cricketers such as Sabbhineni Meghana (Gujarat Giants) and Devika Vaidya (UP Warriorz) were let go of by their franchises.
Delhi Capitals (DC), who were the runners-up of the inaugural season this year, released the least number of players (three) while the Giants released as many as 11 players from their 2023 roster.
Reigning champions Mumbai Indians retained majority of their title-winning squad and let go of just four players.
Despite most retentions being along expected lines, there were a few that came as a surprise. Let's take a look at one such surprising retention from each of the five teams ahead of WPL 2024:
#1 Delhi Capitals - Taniya Bhatia
The fact that the Delhi Capitals batted deep in the first season of the WPL meant that Taniya Bhatia barely had a role to play with the bat. She was outstanding as usual with the wicketkeeper's gloves but across just three outings with the bat, mustered just five runs.
She didn't have too many opportunities but the fact is that the Capitals can't afford to play her as a specialist keeper alone. She walked out at No. 10 with the score reading 79/8 in the final against the Mumbai Indians (MI), only to register a two-ball duck.
Power-hitting and keeping the scoreboard moving along briskly is not something associated with Bhatia even though she's a solid batter in the middle. That's not a luxury teams can have in T20s and hence, her retention comes as a surprise when DC could have gunned for a more aggressive option at the WPL 2024 auction.
#2 Gujarat Giants - Beth Mooney
Beth Mooney's inaugural WPL season was over in the very first game after a calf injury she sustained while batting against MI. Gujarat Giants (GG) lost their skipper for the rest of the season with Sneh Rana taking over the mantle of captaincy. But they could not avoid the wooden spoon with a solitary win to boast about from eight matches.
Mooney's prowess as a batter is known to the world, yet her retention is a surprise in a way. While one can argue that her wicketkeeping skills tipped it in her favor, she has been retained at ₹2 crore when Sophia Dunkley, a more maverick batter suited to the T20 format, was let go of despite her auction price reading ₹60 lakh.
From the point of view of the purse that the Giants would have had at the WPL 2024 auction, retaining Mooney over Dunkley or the all-round prowess of Annabel Sutherland is bemusing.
They have a lot of work to do heading into the next season and pretty much have to build their squad from scratch.
#3 Mumbai Indians - Chloe Tryon
Chloe Tryon dons the role of a finisher for South Africa and has been pretty successful at the role. In the midst of a plethora of all-round superstars at MI's disposal though, she couldn't get a game in the inaugural season of the WPL.
She has been retained, however, ahead of the WPL 2024 auction for a sum of ₹30 lakh. While she's certainly a fine backup to have considering she can also bowl left-arm spin, MI could have possibly looked at freeing up an overseas slot to try their hand at other options.
It's worth noting that Tryon's recent form has been worrisome too as she mustered a mere 71 runs in at an average of under 18 at The Hundred while striking at a rate of 122.41, post which she has blown hot and cold for South Africa.
Could MI have possibly looked elsewhere ahead of the WPL 2024 auction?
#4 Royal Challengers Bangalore - Heather Knight
Heather Knight is a superb all-rounder and there are no two ways about it. Be it her smarts with the bat or her crafty right-arm off-spin, she offers plenty of value to whichever team she represents and was impressive in a largely disappointing campaign for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) earlier this year.
Yet, a deeper look into RCB's batting lineup makes you wonder if she fits their scheme of things. Smriti Mandhana and Sophie Devine will open the innings while Ellyse Perry will shepherd the middle order.
With Richa Ghosh being the lone finisher of note at this point and the likes of Disha Kasat and Indrani Roy better suited to batting up the order, RCB need another power-hitter towards the back end of the innings.
Knight isn't necessarily the solution there and her retention ahead of the WPL 2024 auction comes as a bit of a surprise in that regard.
Given that it eats up another overseas slot and RCB also have a lot of shopping to do in their bowling department, time will tell if they can assign the perfect role to get the best out of the England skipper.
#5 UP Warriorz - Lauren Bell
Lauren Bell is a fine young fast-bowler on the rise and has been a mainstay in the England setup in recent times. She warmed the benches for the UP Warriorz (UPW) earlier this year but has been backed ahead of Shabnim Ismail for WPL 2024.
From the point of view of the purse, it makes total sense especially when Ismail was struggling to get a game for the Warriorz. But a similar scenario could well unfold with Bell too, resulting in her presence in the squad as nothing more than a luxury.
S Yashasri bowled with decent pace while Anjali Sarvani is a useful left-arm seam candidate for the Warriorz, who are otherwise extremely spin-oriented. They need to find a way to fit Bell in the playing XI but given the other overseas superstars who happen to be sure starters, it looks unlikely.
In that sense, gunning for a couple of Indian pacers would have been wiser while looking to use the remaining overseas slots to fill in like-for-like backups for Sophie Ecclestone and Alyssa Healy instead.
Having chosen to throw their weight behind Bell though, they will have to find a way to work around it.
Which of these retentions ahead of WPL 2024 is the most surprising according to you? Have your say in the comments section below!
