WBBL 10: Indian women dominate the overseas draft with six signings

While the Indian men aren’t allowed by the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) to participate in the overseas T20 leagues, the Indian women are busy making the most of the opportunity in the upcoming Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) season. 

Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Yastika Bhatia, Shikha Pandey, and Dayalan Hemalatha got picked in the overseas draft of WBBL 2024 conducted on September 1. Smriti Mandhana was already included in the Adelaide Strikers as a pre-draft signing, which means that as many as six Indian women will be participating in the upcoming edition of Australia’s premier women’s domestic T20 league. 

19 Indians had nominated themselves for the draft, including skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and the Women’s Premier League’s (WPL) purple cap winner Shreyanka Patil. However, they failed to entice any of the eight teams in the tournament. 

The Melbourne Stars selected Deepti after performing brilliantly in the Hundred for the London Spirit team, picking up eight wickets and scoring 212 runs at a strike rate of 132.5 in eight matches. 

She played a key role in Spirit’s maiden title-winning campaign, even winning the final with a six down the ground. She will join her Spirit teammate Meg Lanning at the Stars in the WBBL. Along with Lanning, Deepti would have the wicket-keeper batter Yastika to give her company, as the Stars also picked her. 

Apart from Deepti, Jemimah was the other Indian to get picked in the draft's first round after being selected by the Brisbane Heat. She’ll be accompanied by her Trinbago Knight Riders and India teammate pacer Shikha Pandey, who the Heat has also picked despite being out of the Indian national set up for some time now. 

Meanwhile, allrounder Hemalatha, who has recently played in the top order for the Indian side and bowls effective off-spin, was picked by the Perth Scorchers. She'll join her Gujarat Giants skipper Beth Mooney at the Scorchers, who was quite impressed with her performances at WPL 2024.  

Earlier, Smriti Mandhana was picked by the Adelaide Strikers in the pre-draft Overseas player signings. She will reunite with head coach Luke Williams, with whom she won the Women's Premier League (WPL) title for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) earlier this year. Mandhana has previously played for the Brisbane Heat and Hobart Hurricanes, and most recently, she turned up for Sydney Thunder. 

This will be the WBBL's milestone 10th season, and it will begin just one week after the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in the UAE. Meanwhile, the Indian women are touring Australia right after the tournament, and their first ODI begins just four days after the WBBL 2024.

WBBL 2024 Overseas Draft Picks:

Melbourne Stars: Deepti Sharma, Marizanne Kapp, Yastika Bhatia

Perth Scorchers: Sophie Devine, Amy Jones, Hemalatha Dayalan  

Adelaide Strikers: Laura Wolvaardt, Smriti Mandhana, Orla Prendergast 

Brisbane Heat: Jemimah Rodrigues, Shikha Pandey, Nadine de Klerk 

Sydney Sixers: Sophie Ecclestone, Amelia Kerr, Hollie Armitage

Hobart Hurricanes: Danni Wyatt, Chloe Tryon, Lizelle Lee 

Sydney Thunder: Heather Knight, Shabnim Ismail, Chamari Athapaththu, Georgia Adams

Melbourne Renegades: Deandra Dottin, Hayley Matthews, Alice Capsey 

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