On Expected Lines, Franchises Retain Top Guns Ahead Of Women's Premier League Season 2

There was no surprises in store as all the marquee players, including Mumbai Indians' Harmanpreet Kaur, Delhi Capital's Meg Lanning and Royal Challengers Bangalore's Smriti Mandhana, have been retained by their respective Women's Premier League franchises (WPL), the league announced on Thursday. The window for the five franchises to retain players for the WPL 2024 season came to an end on October 15. While 60 players, including 21 overseas cricketers, were retained across five franchises, 29 players were released from their existing squads.

Besides Kaur, who led MI to title triumph in the tournament's inaugural edition this year, the team has retained Hayley Matthews, Yastika Bhatia, Natalie Sciver-Brunt, Amelia Kerr and Isabelle Wong among others.

The Delhi-based franchise, which finished runners-up in the first edition, retained a total of 15 players, including 5 overseas players.

The UP Warriorz, who finished third, have retained their core group and have decided to hold on to the services of five of their overseas players, while the South African ace pacer Shabnim Ismail has been released.

Also released from the squad are Devika Vaidya, Simran Shaikh and Shivali Shinde.

Speaking about the players released from the team, Delhi Capitals' head coach Jonathan Batty said, "It wasn't an easy decision at all for us to let go of these players. They were all a crucial part of our very memorable inaugural season, and I wish them all the very best.

"We've got a solid squad in place, and will aim to make it more complete at the upcoming auction." The following players from the five WPL franchises were retained and released from the squad: Delhi Capitals: Retained Players: Alice Capsey, Arundhati Reddy, Jemimah Rodrigues, Jess