Women’s Premier League is all set to take centerstage and many feel that it’s going to bring a much-needed revolution in women’s cricket. Earlier, the BCCI did the same with men’s cricket when Indian Premier League took the world by storm in 2008 and it has now become the biggest franchise-based league in sports. Five teams will take part in the inaugural season of WPL starting March 4 as they have already assembled some star-studded squads to get their hands on the coveted trophy on the first attempt.
Adani Sportsline Pvt Ltd splashed a whopping Rs 1,289 crore to buy Gujarat Giants – the most anyone spent for buying one of the five WPL teams. The Ahmedabad-based franchise assembled a star-studded squad in the quest to lift the trophy in their debut season.
Sushma Verma, India wicketkeeper batter, was picked by Gujarat for INR 60 lakh in the mega WPL Auction. It was a roller-coaster ride for Sushma as she shared her experience of going under the hammer with News18 Cricketnext.
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The 30-year-old has played 43 ODIs and 19 T20Is so far in her career but when she went unsold in the first round during WPL Auction she started doing the calculations and then eventually got picked by Gujarat Giants in the second round.
“When I got unsold in the first round, I was curious about what will happen now as nobody was interested. What is the calculation (for franchises), who is getting picked first? But when my name came later in the second round in wicketkeeper’s slot, I was not sure who will buy me for what. But I am very grateful Adani Gujarat Giants picked me and for that good price – I was over the moon because I was a bit tensed when I got unsold in the first round. But now it’s an opportunity for us, a platform which we were waiting for a long time to compete in such a league overseas and domestic talents play alongside each other,” Sushma told News18 Cricketnext.
Talking about having overseas players like Beth Mooney and Ashleigh Gardner in the same squad, Sushma suggested that the duo has tasted great success with the Australian team in recent times and it’s going to be a great opportunity for everyone in the squad to know their work ethics.
“Players like Beth Mooney and Ashleigh Gardner come with a winning mentality. This Australian team knows how to win big matches. It’s not only domestic talents but it’s a chance for everyone to learn from such talented and experienced overseas players. Rubbing shoulders, and sharing dressing room will be an experience at the same time knowing their routine and work ethics both on and off the field – these all will be big learning for domestic talents. You got this exposure while playing in Indian cricket but now WPL will provide the same to domestic talents. It’s a big boost for them as in coming years, WPL will nourish the young talents,” Sushma said.
The Shimla-born wicketkeeper batter asserted that she is grateful to be picked by a team like Gujarat where there is a great mix of senior and young talents. While Sushma also shared her admiration for Australia’s Mooney and said that she is looking forward to sharing the dressing room with her.
“I am excited to play with everyone in the squad. First of all, I am grateful that I was picked by Gujarat Giants as this team is mixed of everything – overseas players, experienced Indian players and young talented cricketers. We have a balanced squad. Looking forward to it how we are going to gel up and as a team what can we do to produce good results. I am very excited to play alongside Beth Mooney because she is a world-class player in this format. I am looking forward to knowing her approach and routine and how she prepares herself and gets in that zone. She is part of an Australian side which has won back-to-back trophies so I want to know about that winning mentality,” she added.
Gujarat have hired an experienced support staff to guide the dressing room in their debut season. Legendary India batter Mithali Raj is named the mentor of the side. While Rachael Haynes, a former Australian women’s cricketer, has been assigned as the head coach. Meanwhile, Tushar Arothe will be the team’s batting coach and Nooshin Al Khadeer is named bowling coach for the WPL 2023.
Sushma suggested that Gujarat Giants have assembled the right people to take the franchise in the right direction which is also going to help the Indian women’s team in future.
“I think the kind of support staff, I have worked with Tushar sir, Nooshin di, they create a very good atmosphere and with the inclusion of Rachel Haynes the Australian culture will also come in and how they approach this game. All these things will make difference for Gujarat Giants. Over the years, I have been a keen follower of IPL where I witnessed how a franchise back and show their trust in the players which is very important for the franchise and the players both. IPL has given us many talents who have played for India. So I am looking forward to how WPL produce the same for India Women’s team. The Roadmap and the people involved in the team look good and as a team will try to do our best,” she added.
While the wicketkeeper batter refuted that there will be added pressure on the team in their debut season for being one of the most highly profiled sides by signing star overseas talents and a group of the experienced coaching staff.
“I don’t think we are under any pressure because we were hoping to get a platform like IPL for women cricketers and now we are here. Our camp has started, now we know why we are here, we are here to play cricket. Everybody has got their own roles and professionally when you play on such a platform then you are bound to do your duties and fulfil your roles. So there isn’t any added pressure despite having star players, and experienced overseas players. The important thing is how we gel up as a unit and work for the same goal,” she asserted.
Sushma further talked about how playing in foreign leagues helped the likes of Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma develop their games. While she also suggested that by having a domestic tournament like WPL, India are now going to put up a fight against the likes of Australia and England in near future.
“I don’t know what is going to happen in future in regard to whether and who will get permission to play in which leagues. But definitely, Harmanpreet, Smriti, Deepti and Jemimah – they all played in WBBL and in the Hundred – I have seen a drastic change in their game after playing in overseas leagues with players from other countries. It helped them a lot. So WPL is going to help the young players and it will be a sudden boost. In the coming years, we will find some solid players from here. Looking at the massive success of Australia and the presence of England on the world stage – the credit goes to their domestic leagues and now we also have our own so we can proudly say that we are going to get better and better from here,” she concluded.
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