Alyssa Healy, an Australian player, will lead the UP Warriorz in the tournament’s debut season, which kicks out on March 4. Healy, one of the six foreign players for Warriorz, was chosen as captain instead of Deepti Sharma, a native of Uttar Pradesh.
“The WPL is a tournament we have all been eagerly anticipating,” Alyssa Healy said in a statement released by the Warriorz. “The UP Warriorz have a strong squad, itching to making a splash once things get starting.” “We are talented and have a fantastic balance of experience and youth. We are looking forward to entertaining our audience. We are playing a vicious kind of cricket with the intention of winning.”
In addition to winning the ODI World Cup in New Zealand last year, Healy has won five T20 World Cups (2010, 2012, 2014, 2018, and 2020). She has one century and 14 half-centuries in her 2446 T20I runs, which she has scored at a strike rate of almost 128. While regular captain Meg Lanning took a vacation from the game, Healy captained the Australia T20I team in India recently. Healy has led the Sydney Sixers in the WBBL as captain as well.
Rajesh Sharma, general director of Capri Globals, the company that owns Warriorz, said of Alyssa Healy: “Alyssa Healy is a giant of the game and has an amazing amount of expertise at the highest level. She also has the winning habit which we desire in our team.
“We hope that under Alyssa Healy direction, the UP Warriorz can make substantial progress on this crucial path and continue to be a source of joy and inspiration for the women of UP.”
Lauren Bell, Tahlia McGrath, Grace Harris, Shabnim Ismail, and Sophie Ecclestone are the other five international players on the Warriorz team. Together with Deepti, some other well-known Indian names present are Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Devika Vaidya, Anjali Sarvani, and Kiran Navgire.
Jon Lewis of England will serve as the head coach of the Warriorz team, with Anju Jain serving as his assistant and Ashley Noffke serving as his bowling coach. The squad mentor will be Lisa Sthalekar, a World Cup victor.
On March 5, Sunday, Warriorz will play Gujarat Giants at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai to open their WPL campaign. Eight league games, featuring each of the five teams twice against the opposition, will come before the Eliminator between the second- and third-place teams. The table-topper and the winner of the Eliminator will square off in the final on March 26 at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium.
The members of the UP Warriorz team are Alyssa Healy (captain), Sophie Ecclestone, Deepti Sharma, Tahlia McGrath, Shabnim Ismail, Anjali Sarvani, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Parshavi Chopra, Shweta Sehrawat, S Yashasri, Kiran Navgire, Grace Harris, Devika Vaidya, Lauren Bell
India
