Harmanpreet Kaur overlooked in WBBL 2024 draft as 6 Indians selected for upcoming season

The draft for the tenth edition of the Women’s Big Bash League was held on September 1. All eight teams in the competition made new additions to their squads in preparation for the upcoming season.

6 Indian players were picked in the draft for the T20 competition, including Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, and Jemimah Rodrigues. While the Indian contingent is expected to miss the start of the tournament, they should be available to play during the later stages in WBBL10.

Smriti Mandhana was the Adelaide Strikers’ pre-draft pick, with the Indian opener becoming the first Indian player to be pre-signed by a BBL team. She joins the WBBL09 champions. This is Mandhana’s fourth WBBL team, and she joins Luke Williams, her coach with Royal Challengers Bangalore in the WPL.

Within the draft, the earliest Indian player drafted was Deepti Sharma as the fourth pick by the Melbourne Stars. Sharma scored 212 runs for champions London Spirit in 8 matches in the Women’s Hundred. She also had 295 runs while averaging over 98 for the UP Warriorz in this year’s WPL.

Jemimah Rodrigues would be the second Indian player picked in the first round, joining Brisbane Heat as the seventh pick. Rodrigues had a fantastic WPL campaign earlier in the year, scoring 235 runs at a strike rate of 153.59, and is a fine middle order option.

Rodrigues is joined in Brisbane by Shikha Pandey, with the pacer being chosen as the 15th pick. Although she has recently lost her spot in the Indian setup, the experienced bowler is seen as a strong asset, and joins her Delhi Capitals teammate at the Gabba.

Dayalan Hemalatha was next to be chosen, as the first pick of the third round by Perth Scorchers, where the all-rounder likely joins on recommendation of her Gujarat Giants captain Beth Mooney. Yastika Bhatia was the last Indian player picked up, with the wicketkeeper-bat joining Deepti Sharma at the Melbourne Stars.

Harmanpreet Kaur not picked

Some notable omissions from the Indian nominations list were Shreyanka Patil, who won the purple cap and was a key player for RCB in WPL 2024, as well as Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who couldn’t find a suitor despite winning player of the tournament for Melbourne Renegades in WBBL07.

WBBL10 is set to commence on 27th October, soon after the conclusion of the Women’s T20 World Cup in the UAE. The Indian players will likely remain in Australia after the conclusion of the WBBL season with India’s tour of Australia following soon after.

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