Gujarat Giants have suffered a massive blow ahead of the inaugural WPL with Deandra Dottin being ruled out of the inaugural Women’s Premier League (WPL). Deandra Dottin was ruled out of the entire WPL due to injury. Dottin will be missed hugely by Gujarat Giants.
West Indies all-rounder Deandra Dottin was signed by Gujarat Giants for Rs 60 lakh at the inaugural Women’s Premier League auction. Dottin, the scorer of the fastest hundred in women’s T20 internationals, retired from the international game in 2022.
Dottin has been in fine form of late In the final of the WBBL in 2023, the West Indian batter played a match-winning inning with the bat helping the Adelaide Strikers lift the trophy.
Gujarat replaced Deandra Dottin with Australia’s Kim Garth. Garth had gone unsold at the auction last month. At the time of the auction, she was with the Australia squad that won the T20 World Cup in South Africa.
Garth only played two warm-up matches before the main World Cup, Gujarat Giants’ official Twitter handle revealed that Garth has landed in India and had already joined the camp.
https://twitter.com/GujaratGiants/status/1631681162895835137
She may not be the ideal replacement for the hard-hitting Dottin, but was probably the best available option for Gujarat at the moment.
The Aussie will look to make use of the opportunity and try to make an impact with her all-around ability and Giants will play the opening game of the WPL on Saturday night against Mumbai Indians at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
The Women’s Premier League Will Begin On March 4
As far as the inaugural edition of the WPL is concerned, it is scheduled to get underway on Saturday, March 4. All five franchises have assembled their squads following the auction on February 13. The auctions for the league will have 22 games for the first year.
Gujarat Giants, Mumbai Indians, UP Warriors, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Delhi Capitals are the five teams that will fight for the inaugural championship title in WPL 2023. With the top players from the cricketing world participating in the first edition of WPL, the Women’s Premier League 2023 will be an exciting one.
Earlier in February, in the auction for the tournament, an Indian top-order batter, Smriti Mandhana became the most expensive player. Deepti Sharma and Australia’s Ashleigh Gardner also brought up decent amounts. Indian women’s cricket team vice-captain Smriti Mandhana was named the captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore.