We’re just halfway through the inaugural WPL and there have already been four 200+ totals, lots of fours and sixes, two batsmen coming close to scoring centuries and more feats, mostly with the bat.
There have been three five-wicket hauls, but the bowlers have not had a very good time. In batting-friendly conditions they have been ferried around the two wickets used in the tournament, the short boundaries, as close as 42-44 meters from the batting end in some cases, complicating problems for them.
Such scores – Delhi Capitals’ 223 for 2 against Royal Challengers Bangalore it has been their highest yet, with both camps witnessing two scores of over 200 each, which are rare in women’s T20 cricket.
Bowlers, both international and no-limit, have been beaten, with fours and sixes accounting for 65% of the total runs scored so far. The four 200-plus totals, all in the first innings, came in just 22 innings (just under one in five innings). For context, the WBBL in Australia has had only four 200+ scores in eight seasons and 922 innings (once every 230 innings, roughly). A total of 200 in a T20 would roughly equate to a score of 160 in the Hundreds, and his two seasons have had just five 160-plus totals in 117 innings (one in 23 innings, roughly).
Massive totals aside, the WPL scoring rate after ten games was 8.69, well ahead of 7.18 in the WBBL last season and 7.73 in the 2022 Hundred. One of the main reasons, again, is how often hitters have been hitting fours and sixes in the WPL compared to the WBBL and the Hundred.
However, the short limits are only one of the reasons. There is more.
Flat fields and fast gardens
Although both Brabourne Stadium and DY Patil Stadium have been rotating pitches, conditions have been predominantly batsman-friendly. Aside from the odd swing-and-turn cue, hitters haven’t had much to worry about. And even if they miss a shot, they get the advantages of fast outfield and, yes, remarkably short boundaries.
shabnim ismailthe South African spearhead for UP Warriorz, noted that the high scores were also a result of how the women’s game has progressed, with some batsmen having been hitting big sixes.
“The caps are short, but women’s cricket in general is moving forward, so you can see that some batsmen have been hitting huge sixes, like over 70 metres,” Ismail told ESPNcricinfo. “So it’s not just about the small caps, it’s also about how you can capitalize in the middle, which is great to see in women’s cricket in general.”
The boundary ropes have been stretched to measure as little as 42 or 44 meters on one part of the ground, and the BCCI has reportedly set a limit of 60 meters for the longest limit, compared to 65 for the Women’s World Cup. T20 last month. .
Things are going well at the moment, but as the greens get more wear and tear, scores may start to drop and we may see more assists for the slower bowlers.
“I probably have some gray hairs being a captain (to stop the run flow), but as a hitter your eyes definitely tend to light up a little bit,” the Warriorz captain. alyssa healy he told ESPNcricinfo about the scores. “That’s the nature of competition. As you go on and the wickets get a bit tired, the scores can go down just a fraction. It’s been exciting, the 200-run scores look great, but there have been close contests as well. So, I’ve enjoyed that side of the game that the big scores.”
On that last point, there has been a successful pursuit with a ball to spareone with two balls to spare, and a victory by 11 runs in a match in which 391 runs were scored.
While the intent behind setting up friendly batting conditions is perhaps to draw more crowds to the grounds and draw more TV looks, for a tournament just getting started, lisa shalekarwho played 187 caps for Australia, makes commentaries around the world and is currently the Warriorz’s mentor, said it wasn’t the best way to promote the game.
“I understand the reason why BCCI did that…the same thing happened in the WBBL: bring everything, we want high scores,” he said. “For cricket tragedians, they look at the scorecard and think, ‘120 against 130, why am I looking at this? But 160 against 170, I’m definitely looking at that.'”
“The WPL has to continue to educate people along the way. If you have to manipulate things to get the result you want, I think the players understand that. But at some point, you have to balance the ledger. One thing I’ve seen The moment is if you have a good rhythm, a good rebound, a good carry on a shot, you can set the limits. The players are strong enough to make sixes. So you don’t need to manipulate it much. But if it’s a bass , slow spin tone, then it is difficult.
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Foreign hitters bring the power play
The first cap in the WPL was a six, when Hayley Matthews sent Mansi Joshi’s long ball over the deep square leg. That was perhaps an early sign that foreign players were going to dominate the not-too-experienced international and Indian domestic players.
While Smriti Mandhana, Richa Ghosh and S Meghana have so far failed to shine, Shafali Verma is the only Indian among the top eight run scorers in the competition so far. she is on top of the six hitters table, which is again dominated by foreign players. Shafali, Harmanpreet Kaur, Kiran Navgire and Harleen Deol are the only Indians to have hit a half century (six, in all), compared to 13 foreign players.
“Everyone recruited quite well in the auction and therefore you have some outstanding batting lineups across all the teams,” the Delhi Capitals head coach said. jonathan batty, who has coached the Oval Invincibles to titles in the women’s Hundred and Melbourne Stars in the WBBL, said. “You have more foreign players in these teams than you would in other (leagues). You have four (in the XI), normally you would have only three in the others. So the teams actually are probably stronger and a lot of hitting in many of they”.
Inexperienced bowlers struggle to keep up
The other aspect is the less experienced bowlers bowling these top tier batsmen.
Case in point, left-arm spinner Preeti Bose, who earned five caps for India in 2016, bowling explosive England batsman Sophia Dunkley on the power play. Gujarat Giants’ Dunkley blasted past Bose to score 23 runs on his way to an 18-ball half-century against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Those are the most bowled runs by an Indian bowler in an over in the WPL so far.
Among the 11 overs that have been 20 or more in the WPL, eight have been by bowlers who have played little or no international cricket. Australia’s Annabel Sutherland, who played the majority of her 33 caps in 2022-23, has twice conceded 22 or more in one over, both times in death.
Except for the Warriorz, whose most expensive over came from Australia’s Tahlia McGrath (19 runs, twice), most other teams have had inexperienced bowlers bleeding runs: Bose for RCB, Sutherland for Giants and the left-arm seamer from USA Tara Norris for Capitals. And none of the Indian national players, with the notable exception of Mumbai Indians’ Saika Ishaque, have managed to regularly win wickets. Only Shikha Pandey and Deepti Sharma have taken five or more wickets among Indian bowlers, apart from Ishaque’s Top 12. There is another interesting factor here. The inexperience of some of the captains, which has meant that bowling has not always been used in the best possible way. Aside from Meg Lanning and Harmanpreet, none of the captains have much experience managing international teams. Point to note: Lanning’s Capitals and Harmanpreet’s Mumbai currently top the table. Not only are three of the five captains inexperienced on the job, but they barely had time to get to know their squadrons and plan strategies. Now that each team has played at least four games, the captains can come up with a better strategy to probably not bowl two uncapped bowlers in tandem or expose them too much on the power play and death overs. The WPL provides a platform for these bowlers to excel and improve their skills by being exposed to such scenarios. As the competition progressed, the bowlers also adapted and the greens began to tire, which could be why the WPL has not had a score over 200 after the first six games. Perhaps that will be the trend from now on, and bowlers will have more of a say. Statistics entries by Shiva Jayaraman
