Alyssa Healy and Deepti Sharma (Source: @ImTanujSingh/X.com)
After receiving the major setback of UP Warriorz skipper Alyssa Healy getting ruled out of the upcoming Women's Premier League 2025. The news coming in is that, Indian all-rounder Deepti Sharma has been elevated to the post of captain for the upcoming WPL 2025.
Deepti Named New UP Warriorz Skipper
Alyssa Healy had to withdraw from the WPL following a stress injury to her right foot during the previously concluded Women's Ashes against England. As she will be out of action for a few months, this caused her to miss the WPL, causing her side, UP Warriorz, a significant problem considering she led her side well in the competition.
Additionally, West Indies all-rounder Chinelle Henry was named Healy's replacement for this edition.
Talking about Healy, she has been at the core of all the sides she has represented in the past but has been struggling with a few injuries. A knee injury forced her to miss multiple matches in the Women's T20 World Cup 2024 and Women's Big Bash League, while her foot stress injury kept her out of the Women's Ashes T20 series.
UP Warriorz will be the third side this season to have an Indian skipper, with Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur being the skippers of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Mumbai Indians (MI), respectively, as they have both been successful in the past two editions.
Deepti Sharma WPL 2024 Stats
As for Deepti Sharma, she has been a significant asset for both India and her WPL side, UP Warriorz, where she has been smashing runs and taking wickets consistently for her side. Moreover, her stats in the WPL 2024 were impressive as she managed to rack up 295 runs at a strike rate of 136.57 while averaging a whopping 98.33 in eight games last year with the bat.
Whereas, looking at her bowling stats, she picked up nine crucial wickets at an economy of 7.23, where she averaged 21.70 in the same number of matches. Deepti, with the bat, was the highest run scorer for her side last season, while she stood fifth in the tournament overall.
Deepti has often stepped up in tough situations as she has fulfilled the role of a proper all-rounder with equal responsibility in both departments. Previously, in the Women's Hundred 2024, she finished the game for her side, London Spirit, with a six in the very final over of the game to take her team to the title.
As for Deepti, she was signed for a sum of ₹2.60 crore during the first season of the WPL auction, where she picked up nine wickets in the initial edition but failed to replicate her performance with the bat, scoring just 90 odd runs in the tournament. However, she turned out well in the following 2024 season. Moreover, she was named in the ICC Women's T20 team of the year 2024, also featuring Smriti Mandhana and Richa Ghosh.
With all set for the WPL to begin on 14th February, UP Warriorz will play their inaugural game of the season on 16th February against Gujarat Giants, who have also announced Ashleigh Gardner as their new skipper in place of Beth Mooney, who led the side previously.