Women's Premier League, SWOT Analysis: UP Warriorz

image-lemo1vpgSource: Twitter (UP Warriorz)

The much-awaited time for Women's cricket fans is here, with the inaugural edition of the Women's Premier League set to kick off on March 4. A pool of 89 players was sold among five franchises for a whooping INR 59.50 crore in the player's auction. 

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Four of the five franchises had a branch in the Men's IPL competition, with UP Warriorz being the odd one out. So, how has the nascent franchise fared in action? We have covered the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore, so now it's time to dive deep into UP Warriorz.


UP Warriorz Team Division

image-lenx7slq(Source: OneCricket)


Strength of UP Warriorz

  • Australian Powerhouse: The Warriorz have invested quite a sum on the six-hitting machines of Australia. It is a known fact how good the Kangaroos are with their game. The nascent franchise have managed to rope in Alyssa Healy, one of the best top-order swashbucklers. In addition, Grace Harris is a beast in herself. There shouldn't be any boundary in the world that the 29-year-old cannot clear. Adding more power in the house, Tahlia McGrath, a tall, muscular figure who doesn't shy away from tonking the bowlers out of the park.
  • World-class bowling spearheads: The presence of Sophie Ecclestone and Shabnim Ismail provides huge boost to the bowling department of UP. The left-arm spinner is the current no.1 ranked bowler in T20I, and is also undergoing a purple patch. Meanwhile, Ismail, South Africa's leader of the pack, will no doubt play a similar role for her new franchise. Both bowlers are richly experienced and have the knack of fragmenting building partnerships.

Weakness of UP Warriorz

  • Lack of a stabilizer: What's missing from the Warriorz' kitty is a sole anchor. They have built a side around good top-order batters and brilliant finishers but have failed to snap a grafter. They needed someone in the middle order to play the situations carefully and steadily wrecked ships. Hopefully, as the tournament initiates, someone steps up and fill the void in their batting cards.

Opportunity of UP Warriorz

  • Under-19 talents: The Alyssa Healy-led unit fetched a few U-19 stars from the Indian contingent. Shweta Sehrawat and Parshavi Chopra are the two talent heads drawn from the U-19 squad of India in the recently concluded U-19 T20 World Cup in South Africa. Sehrawat was the leading run-getter in the event with 292 runs from six matches, while Chopra was the third-highest wicket-taker in the competition with nine wickets on display from five games. Barring this, Soppadhandi Yashasri is also another gem who represented the India U-19 team to the tour of South Africa prior to the Women's U-19 World Cup.

image-lenxg3db(Source:OneCricket)


Threats of UP Warriorz

  • Inexperienced skipper: When it comes to leading a team, Alyssa Healy is a name yet to be tested across conditions. Although, the wicketkeeper-batter was recently seen captaining the Australian Women's side who visited India and swept a 4-1 triumph in the series. Numbers have a different story to tell. Healy has captained Australia only four times, and her highest score was 37. With testing conditions in Maharashtra, it would be interesting to see how she unfolds as a skipper.