THE INAUGURAL Women’s Premier League (WPL) competition kicks off on the weekend, the women’s equivalent of the Indian Premier League (IPL) which is set to revolutionise the women’s game in much the same way.

In the lead up to the tournament, Rookie Me Central will take a deep dive into each of the team’s individually and take a look at who is a part of their respective inaugural sides.

In this final team preview, we take a look at the UP Warriorz.

Unlike most teams in the inaugural WPL, the Warriorz are a brand new franchise, not connected to an existing men’s Indian Premier League team. Although unlikely to affect them on-field, it will be interesting to see whether that pans out for better or worse.

They have plenty of big names in their inaugural side.

Coached by current English Women’s coach Jon Lewis, the most well known of these faces is arguably Australian vice-captain Alyssa Healy, who is well over her injury she suffered at the end of last year and is back firing.

Alongside Healy there are several other faces from the World Cup winning Australian side.

Tahlia McGrath has come on in leaps and bounds in an international sense over the last year or so, while Grace Harris is a big hitter who is also dangerous with ball in hand.

Speaking of, South African Shabnim Ismail and Englishwoman Sophie Ecclestone are very different kinds of bowlers but both just as potent. Ecclestone in particular had a very dominant Women’s Big Bash League season this summer, so will be keen to continue that form in another domestic competition.

Rounding out the international contingent at the Warriorz is Englishwoman Lauren Bell, who has found much success at domestic level but has not had too many opportunities on the international scene.

Headlining the Indian contingent of the team are two very different players, but arguably just as interesting to watch.

Allrounder Deepti Sharma is just as valuable with bat in hand as she is with the ball in her hand, while Shweta Sehrawat may not be well known to international audiences yet, but anyone who watched the recent Under 19 World Cup knows how good she is as a batter.

She was the top scorer for the tournament and had the highest batting average of the tournament as she helped guide her side to the title.

UP Warriorz 2023 Squad

Sophie Ecclestone (ENG), Tahlia McGrath (AUS), Shabnim Ismail (SA), Grace Harris (AUS), Alyssa Healy (AUS), Deepti Sharma, Devika Vaidya, Anjali Sarvani, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shweta Sehrawat, Kiran Navgire, Lauren Bell (ENG), Laxmi Yadav, Parshavi Chopra, S. Yashasri, Simran Shaikh

UP Warriorz 2023 Fixture (All times AEDT)

March 6 – 1am – UP Warriorz vs Gujarat Giants
March 8 – 1am – Delhi Capitals vs UP Warriorz
March 11 – 1am – Royal Challengers Bangalore vs UP Warriorz
March 13 – 1am – UP Warriorz vs Mumbai Indians
March 16 – 1am – UP Warriorz vs Royal Challengers Bangalore
March 18 – 9pm – Mumbai Indians vs UP Warriorz
March 20 – 9pm – Gujarat Giants vs UP Warriorz
March 22 – 1am – UP Warrioz vs Delhi Capitals