The 2024 Women’s Premier League (WPL) gave cricket fans a lot to cheer about for nearly a month. After playing T20 matches for 24 days straight, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) won the important trophy by beating Delhi Capitals (DC) in the final match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. They won by eight wickets.
Throughout the tournament, fans got to see amazing performances from famous international players like Ellyse Perry, Meg Lanning, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Sophie Ecclestone, and others. However, there were also some players who were expected to play well but didn’t perform as expected.
Here’s the list of the five hyped players who performed below expectations:
5. Ashleigh Gardner
The Gujarat Giants team didn’t make their fans happy for two years in a row. The main players didn’t play well all the time, so the team finished last in the 2024 WPL. Ashleigh Gardner, who was supposed to make the team stronger in every part of the game, didn’t play well either.
When she batted, she only scored 120 runs in eight matches, with a low strike rate of 111.11. As a bowler, she only got seven wickets, and her bowling economy was 7.75. Before the season started, Gujarat fans hoped she would do great things, but it didn’t turn out that way.
4. Rajeshwari Gayakwad
Rajeshwari Gayakwad is a really experienced player on the UP Warriorz team. Fans thought she’d play great because she’s done so well for India. They wanted her to bowl really well and help the team win.
She, Sophie Ecclestone, and Deepti Sharma were supposed to make the team’s spin bowling strong. But Rajeshwari didn’t do as well as expected. In eight games, she only got six wickets, and she gave away runs too easily, making it tough for the team.
3. Alyssa Healy
Alyssa Healy, the captain of the Warriorz team, had an important job: to help her team get off to a quick start as the first batter. She played eight games but only scored 175 runs at a rate of 117.44 runs per 100 balls. In three of those games, she didn’t even score more than ten runs.
In the important matches against Mumbai Indians (MI) and Gujarat Giants (GG), she got out early, which hurt Warriorz chances. This was one of the reasons why they got knocked out of the tournament. Before the tournament, Healy was playing really well for Australia, so fans hoped she would do the same for Warriorz, but it didn’t work out that way.
2. Renuka Singh
RCB won their first championship with Smriti Mandhana as captain. But, their key bowler, Renuka Singh, didn’t do well in the WPL. She played in all 10 matches but only got two wickets and gave away runs too easily.
Renuka is usually the one who tries to get wickets early in the game, but she didn’t do well this time. In the final match against DC, she bowled two overs and gave away 28 runs. Because of her bad bowling, Mandhana, the captain, didn’t let her finish her overs.
1. Hayley Matthews
West Indies player Hayley Matthews was important for Mumbai Indians when they won the trophy in 2023. Fans hoped she’d do well again this year, but she didn’t play as good. She didn’t score many runs, only 180 in nine games, and her bowling wasn’t great either, only getting seven wickets.
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