WPL Countdown | Fitness concerns apart, Mumbai Indians remains the team to beat

Two titles in three seasons. Mumbai Indians enjoys an enviable record in the Women’s Premier League, and as another season beckons, the Women in Blue start as the favourite.

Arguably the most successful franchise, Mumbai Indians’ biggest strength lies in retaining its core players — Harmanpreet Kaur as the captain, Hayley Matthews, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Amanjot Kaur, and G. Kamalini.

While the side revolves around its captain Harmanpreet, there’s a perfect blend of youth and experience.

With three world class all-rounders in Sciver-Brunt, Amelia Kerr and Matthews, the Mumbai Indians has enough depth in its batting, and in a long and challenging tournament, their experience would come in handy, especially in crunch situations.

With off-spinner Matthews pairing with seam bowling all-rounders Sciver-Brunt and Amanjot, the bowling department is well taken care of, for at least 10-12 overs, and even after that, there’s enough firepower on the bowling front, with the seasoned Shabnim Ismail, Milly Illingworth, and Nicola Carey, who had a remarkable outing for Hobart Hurricanes in the Women’s Big Bash League, around.

There are, however, fitness concerns.

Having suffered a shoulder injury in June last year, Matthews missed out on the big tournaments, including WBBL and Women’s Caribbean Premier League, due to surgery.

Even though she is fit now, it needs to be seen whether she can bowl her quota of overs. Even though the team management is confident that things will fall in place as the tournament progresses, there are questions on the wicket-keeping front as well.

Having released Yastika Bhatia, MI has pinned its hopes on the young Kamalini and Rahila Firdous.

The squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (Capt.), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Hayley Matthews, Amanjot Kaur, G. Kamalini (wk), Amelia Kerr, Shabnim Ismail, Sanskriti Gupta, S. Sajana, Rahila Firdous (wk), Nicola Carey, Poonam Khemnar, Triveni Vasistha, Nalla Reddy, Saika Ishaque, and Milly Illingworth.

MI’s schedule: At Navi Mumbai: Jan. 9: vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru; Jan. 10: Delhi Capitals; Jan. 13: vs Gujarat Giants; Jan. 15: UP Warriorz; Jan. 17: UPW*.

At Vadodara: Jan. 20: DC, Jan. 26: RCB; Jan. 30: GG.

*3 p.m. start, rest of the games begin at 7.30 p.m.