CHENNAI: After 21 matches across two venues, the final of the second season of the Women's Premier League is here.
Unlike the first season in 2023, which Parth Jindal, the owner of the Delhi Capitals, summarised as "a student trying to learn the entire year's syllabus in the last nine days," the franchise and even players had enough time and experience behind them.
For the first time, players were aware of the designated window for the WPL season and the work that went behind the scenes since the inaugural season became more meaningful and it was on full display this time around.
Take for example Anjali Sarvani of UP Warriorz. An untimely knee injury led to the left-arm pacer missing out on India's first-ever Asian Games campaign and couldn't be part of the squads that played two Tests on home soil. Despite not getting these opportunities, she knew she could get fit in time for WPL.
"Because of this injury, I got time to build myself and work on my fitness. Instead of thinking everything is gone. I thought, well, I have WPL and I had the perfect time to be fit for it. All I was focusing on was getting better," Sarvani told this daily during the season.
The existence of a tournament like WPL has created a window for the players in India to show their talent, which was earlier only available at the domestic level or directly at the international level, with no intermediary in between. This in itself is one of the great achievements of the sophomore season. Throughout the season, Indian players like Sarvani, who were part of the first season, have stepped up their game to suit the needs of the franchise. The Indian experienced players' contribution, in some cases, has been on par with that of their international counterparts.
"If you look at the likes of Asha Sobhana, Arundhati Reddy, Tanjua Kanwar, Radha Yadav have stepped up this season, virtually on par with some of the foreign players," Aarti Sankaran, former cricketer turned coach, who has been part of the broadcast team for this season told this daily.
"Take Amelia Kerr, a New Zealand international, and Asha for example as two leg spinners. Asha has definitely done better with the ball this season. One of the areas of growth for me has been the contribution of Indian domestic bowlers," she added. With 10 wickets each to Asha, Reddy, and Kanwar with all of them having bowling economy of just north of 7 prove her point.
In the batting department, however, there is still a gap between Indian domestic players and players with international experience as of now. The likes of Jemimah Rodrigues, Yastika Bhatia and even Deepti Sharma have embraced the format and made the most of the opportunities given to them.
The list of highest run-getters in the tournament is full of Indian and overseas internationals. S Meghana, who has not played any international cricket for India in recent years, is ranked 17 in the list dominated by international players with 168 runs off six innings. Sankaran believes that is the next challenge for domestic players coming through the ranks. "With batting, I think we are not on par yet.
International players like Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, and even Richa Ghosh are at that level. The batting in the domestic matches needs to be re-evaluated. We have to think that we cannot have the same set of players in all formats going ahead. Keeping in mind the necessities WPL brings to the sport and with T20 World Cups coming up every two years and even the U19 World Cup, we need to reassess the way domestic batters play and start giving them very specific roles," Sankaran pointed out.
Other than batting and bowling, the one area where Indian players need to take the leaf out of the foreign players and even some Indian players is the fielding standards. UP Warriorz paying a huge prize for below-par fielding performance was an example of how vital holding on to your chances in the field could make or break your season.
"The fielding standard needs to go up big time. The fielding from Indian players on some occasions has been absurdly bad. The players need to realise that gone are the days when you could bat well or bowl well as an individual skill. They need to work on it and improve," she added.
All said and done, one of the best outcomes to come out of this season is how much the Indian internationals have dominated the game in their own franchise, going shoulder-to-shoulder with their overseas counterparts. Whether it is Deepti Sharma being the leading run scorer for the UP Warriorz or Jemimah Rodrigues playing her role in the middle overs for Delhi Capitals on numerous occasions. With the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh a few months away, the performance of these players and the competition for the spots in the playing XI is the brightest spot for Indian team management.
"This season, there is a significant shift in how Indian internationals have dominated their respective franchises. These players have done exceptionally well and it is a great sign for India overall with the World Cup coming. Players like Jemimah for example, who was not considered as a power hitter otherwise, has come back and played well in the season. Along with that now there is a number two standby player available as well. Yastika Bhatia and Richa Ghosh have improved their keeping so much. These players have gone back to the drawing board and worked hard."
"They are competing against each other. Those who are trying to go out of their comfort zone are being rewarded. Deepti Sharma getting out of her comfort zone or Pooja Vastrakar finding her place in the middle over, for example. Now they know that WPL could bring someone to the limelight. From the first season to the second, it has opened the possibilities of viewers towards the talent and it has also given a message to these players that if they do not work on getting better with their skills then it is a harsh sport for them," Sankaran said.
Looking at the way the sophomore season has gone, there are more positives for the Indian players to take. The WPL has given them the blueprint of what is working and what needs efforts from the stakeholders.
Will the learned lessons improve the overall quality of the game in the country? Only time will tell. For now, all eyes are on the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi where the new champion will be crowned on Sunday.