Today is the first double header-day of the first WPL. The first match of Sunday will be played between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals at Brabourne Stadium from 3:30 pm. After that, the teams of UP Warriors and Gujarat Giants will show their mettle at DY Patil Stadium from 7:30 pm.

The opening match of the league has been a bang. In this, Mumbai Indians defeated Gujarat Giants by a huge margin of 143 runs. Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur scored the first fifty of the league. He played an explosive inning of 65 runs in 30 balls.

The league’s costliest player Smriti Mandhana and Australia’s Meg Lanning will be seen captaining in the first match of the double header. In the second match, UP will be led by Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney, though Mooney is in doubt as she suffered a knee injury in the first match. Till the time of writing the news, there was doubt whether he would play or not.
In this story, you will read the Strength and Weekness of all the four teams playing today, Bengaluru-Delhi’s possible playing-11 and full squads of all the four teams…

First see the photo of that trophy, on which all the five captains are eyeing…

The captains of the five teams unveiling the first WPL trophy.

Now meet the captains of all the teams

World class batsman in Royal Challengers Bangalore, attacking batting is the specialty
Smriti Mandhana is the costliest player of the WPL auction and is the captain of the team. Apart from her, the team has top players like Sophie Devine, Heather Knight, Ellyse Perry, Dan Wayne Niekerk, Richa Ghosha, Megan Schutt and Renuka Singh. But, still there are few domestic fast bowlers in the team.

Strength : RCB has the most attacking batting line-up. 5 out of 6 foreign players can win the team in any difficult situation. Smriti, Richa and Renuka, all three illustrious Indian players, are also in the team.

Weekdays : There is a huge dearth of spinners, especially no domestic spinners. No big names among domestic all-rounders. The playing XI looks weak due to lack of spinners and domestic bowlers.

Delhi Capitals most balanced team
Australia’s Meg Lanning has been made the captain of the team. Jemimah Rodrigues is the vice-captain and the team has top class international players like Shafali Verma, Marian Kapp, Ellyse Capsey, Jess Jonassen, Radha Yadav and Shikha Pandey.

Strength : There are 6 international all-rounders. Of these, 5 played the T20 World Cup in South Africa in the past. There are also 7 international Indian players in the team. Associate country star Tara Norris has also been included, so that they will be able to feed 5 foreign players in the team.

Weekdays : Lack of experience in extra players. There will be problems if top players are injured. Not betting on foreign wicketkeepers can be costly.

Top class all-rounder in Gujarat Giants
Women’s T20 World Cup player of the tournament Ashley Gardner and player of the final Beth Mooney are in Gujarat. Mooney is the captain of the team and the team also has top class all-rounders like Georgia Wareheim, Sneh Rana, Annabel Sutherland, Deandra Dottin, Manasi Joshi and Harleen Deol.

Strength : Foreign batsmen, domestic spinners and spin bowling all-rounders are giving strength to the team. The batting lineup is so strong that the lack of domestic batsmen will not be felt.

Weekdays : There are no specialist pacers. Foreign and domestic experts are not fast bowlers. There is no dearth of domestic batsmen and world class leg spinners in the batting line-up either.

World Cup winning players in UP Warriors
Australia’s wicket-keeper batter Alyssa Healy has been given the captaincy of the team. Apart from these, the team also includes World Cup winning players like Tahlia McGrath, Grace Harris and Shabnim Ismail, who played the final of the Women’s T20 World Cup from South Africa.

Strength : There are all kinds of top class players in the playing XI. Australian players are making the batting order very aggressive. Domestic spinners will strengthen the team. The playing eleven is balanced.

weekend : Lack of domestic batters and fast bowlers. Lack of options due to having only 5 extra players. There are not many top class fast bowlers in the team.

Possible playing-11
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Smriti Mandhana (Captain), Disha Kasat, Sophie Devine, Ellyse Perry, Dan van Niekerk, Richa Ghosh, Komal Janjad/Asha Shobhana, Preeti Bose, Megan Schutt, Renuka Singh, Kanika Ahuja/Shreyanka Patil.
Delhi Capitals: Meg Lanning (Captain), Shefali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Marijan Kapp, Harris, Jasia Akhtar, Radha Yadav, Shikha Pandey and Tara Norris.

See full squads of all four teams
Royal Challengers Bangalore:
Smriti Mandhana (India), Renuka Singh (India), Sophie Devine (New Zealand), Ellyse Perry (Australia), Richa Ghosh (India), Erin Burns (Australia), Disha Kasat (India), Indrani Roy (India), Shreyanka Patil (India), Kanika Ahuja (India), Asha Shobhana (India), Heather Knight (England), Dan van Niekerk (South Africa), Preeti Bose (India), Poonam Khemnar (India), Komal Janjad (India), Sahana Pawar (India), Megan Shutt (Australia).

Delhi Capitals:
Jemimah Rodrigues (India), Shafali Verma (India), Meg Lanning (Australia), Radha Yadav (India), Shikha Pandey (India), Marijan Kapp (South Africa), Titas Sadhu (India), Ellyse Kepsy (England), Grace Harris (Australia), Jasia Akhtar (India), Minnu Mani (India), Tania Bhatia (Bhatia), Poonam Yadav (India), Jess Jonassen (India), Sneha Deepti (India), Arundhati Reddy (India), Aparna Mondal (India) India).

UP Warriors:
Deepti Sharma (India), Tahlia McGrath (Australia), Shabnim Ismail (South Africa), Sophie Ecclestone (England), Alyssa Healy (Australia), Anjali Sarwani (India), Rajeshwari Gaikwad (India), Parshvi Chopra (India), S Yashashree (India), Shweta Sehrawat (India), Parshvi Chopra (India), Kiran Navagire (India), Grace Harris (Australia), Devika Vaidya (India), Lauren Bell (England), Laxmi Yadav (India), Simran Sheikh ( India),

Gujarat Giants:
Ashley Gardner (Australia), Beth Mooney (Australia), Sophia Dunkley (England), Annabel Sutherland (Australia), Harleen Deol (India), Deondra Dottin (West Indies), Sneh Rana (India), Sabineni Meghana (India), Georgia Wareham (Australia), Manasi Joshi (India), Dayalan Hemlata (India), Monika Patel (India), Tanuja Kanwar (India), Sushma Verma (India), Hurley Gala (India), Ashwani Kumari (India), Parunika Sisodia (India) ), Shabnam Shakeel (India).