WPL 2025: Shikha Pandey Is Only Getting Better And Better: DC Head Coach

Shikha Pandey might be turning 36 in a few days, but it doesn’t take away the ‘mountain’ of experience that the right-arm pacer comes with. Across the two editions of the Women’s Premier League (WPL), the Ramagundam-born pacer has scalped 19 wickets, averaging just 23.94.

Heading into WPL 2025, she still remains a trump card for Delhi Capitals (DC), whose pace bowling unit revolves around her experience. The right-arm pacer picked up nine wickets at the death, a phase during which she has been the best bowler for DC, averaging 12.7. 

“Yeah, look, I'm a huge Shikha Pandey fan,” DC head coach Jonathan Batty said in a press conference ahead of WPL 2025. 

“You look at the way she's bowled the last two years. She's been probably our most consistent bowler through all different phases of the game. Like Meg [Lanning] said, she’s passing on her knowledge to players. Shikha has been amazing around the group and has passed her immense knowledge to the younger players, guiding them,” he added. 

Barring Marizanne Kapp and Pandey, there aren’t too many experienced pacers in the setup, which makes the 35-year-old’s influence on the side more profound. 

“I think she’s only getting better and better. I know she’s getting slightly older [35], but obviously, with that experience, I think she’s getting better. I’ve seen her over the last 24 months or so, and she’s a major part of our bowling unit leading to this year’s tournament again.”

Apart from that, all eyes will also be on the Kerala all-rounder Arundhati Reddy, who is coming on the back of being dropped from the Indian setup. The 27-year-old has more than a point to prove, and she can’t ask for a better skipper than Lanning to extract the best out of her. 

“Yeah, Aru's [Arundhati Reddy] a really exciting player. I love how she wants to learn and ask questions all the time. She played well for Delhi [Capitals] in the first couple of years, and I think she's improved a lot. As we've seen, she's also had that selection with India recently,” Meg Lanning said. 

“So for me, with the ball in particular for us, she's very clear on what she wants to do. She's got some excellent skills and variations, and she's very good at executing as well, particularly through the middle and the back end for us in the past. So she's been a very important player for us.”

While the 27-year-old has hardly had an opportunity to bat in the past two editions, Lanning feels that she is more than handy to play an impactful innings for the Capitals when the need arises. 

“And she's certainly someone who I feel very confident to go to throughout the innings to be able to do a job for us. So we haven't seen her as much with the bat, just through opportunity. But from what I've seen at training and any opportunity she gets, she's certainly very handy,” Lanning concluded.